Shamanism on The Grand Line
by wispie
Summary: Even though Aika had always been a momma's girl, she wanted to have an adventure on the Grand Line - alone. It did help that her family had always lived an exceptional life though, so maybe she'd survive until she'd get to paint the mysterious island of Raftel. OC with possible romance later on.
1. Nanioveneh Island

This is my first story ever written in english, and also the first story I've published here. I'd like to have some critic, but be kind, I'm still a n00b! Now I'll let the story begin. Enjoy!

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People usually inherit a lot from their parents. Looks are often the first thing to come to our minds when we think how we remind our biological parents. That was right especially in Aika's case. She had a round face, high cheekbones and thick lips just like her mother, not to mention they had both wavy hair. But her nose was just like her father's, very straight. Also the color of her hair was very similar to her father' hair color. It was still very light, but at the age of 15 it got a darker tint which deepened every year, until it looked more like auburn instead of blond. Even though it would be quite interesting to compare which looks she had inherited from which, it was even more intriguing to think which traits she had gotten from them.

Right now the most outstanding trait Aika got from her parents was stubbornness. It was still a mystery if it was because of the genes, or her environment just encouraged her to be persistent little too much. Whichever it was, she was in trouble because of it. She had decided to enter the Grand Line with a ship and then travel alone, and if she decided something, she absolutely had to do it, of course. This ship was probably the best way to get there, since ships didn't visit her home island too often and she liked the fact she could travel all way to the Navioveneh Island with the same boat. She also got along with the crew easily. However it was still probably very stupid, because she had always been dependent on her parents and now she had no one to turn to if she had problems.

"Damn", she cursed her parents for giving such crappy genes and growing her up to be some sort of contrarian, even if it was actually all her own fault in the end.

The waves were rocking furiously against the ship's bottom, splashing water on her face. It wasn't easy to navigate in this kind of place, where you could be crushed against rocks if you didn't know what you were doing. If your ship got damaged, that's about it; there was no way one could climb those mountains and the sea currents would drown you if you fell in the water. No, it was nothing but easy, but it wasn't all that easy even staying on board when you were puking your guts out.

The men were giving her compassionate glances when they had the time, but they didn't say anything. Mostly because they remembered the first time they had traveled by boat trough mountains... Gate to the Grand Line was very unnatural, so Aika had a reason to feel ill. She didn't like traveling by boat very much anyway but she had never been seasick before, which sea was quite happy about now – it would be very frustrating to get back home if she couldn't handle a boat herself.

After Aika threw up the tenth time the merchant ship called Marbelle was pretty much on the top of the Reverse mountain.

_'Maybe even on the top of the world'_, Aika thought. The would've probably seen their destination island if it wasn't so foggy and cloudy. The ship jumped a bit before they started sliding down, so Aika made sure her grip wouldn't slip. It was going to be a rough ride.

The crew got safely on a bit calmer waters. They were all wet from sweat and water (and puke, she did have some spots on her shirt even if she did manage to keep herself mostly clean), but somehow they were suddenly all in a very good and energetic mood. It was like all their fears were washed away, even though they would have to face the navigating challenges Grand Line had. But most of the crew knew that worst part was already over for them and relaxed a bit, except for Aika. She felt too excited to calm down, this was after all her first time on the Grand Line. This was the place some were afraid to talk about, and the same place some passionately preached about. Pirates and fellow outlaws gathered here to make their dreams come true. Aika then sighed at fact she counted herself as one of the outlaws, but she didn't even have a wanted poster. Well, she had also came here to make her dreams come true.

"You have a day to pick up your stuff from the ship before we sell it", the captain of the ship, Mark said thinking about the enormous amount of stuff she had in her little room.

"So little time? Well, I guess you want to get home as fast as possible, but I don't think I can find a suitable boat for myself in just one day..." Aika sighed.

"I kind of promised to my wife I'd be home before our anniversary day, so I'd better not stay here any longer. But I guess you could ask Inari to help you? I bet there's an ideal boat for you around", Mark told her.

"Me? Well I guess I have nothing better to do... I was about to check the ships they sell here anyway", Inari said while cleaning his revolver.

"Great! Let's get going, then", she jumped happily on the quay.

"Fine..." Inari hurried after her.

Navioveneh Island was a former ship building island. It was quite small and the city had grown up so big it had concealed every bit of the land. Despite the smallness it was very lively. Nowadays it was specialized in selling used ships. Selling ships on one of the first Islands on Grand Line after the Reverse mountain was very profitable, because the ships often got damaged while getting there, so a lot of people had moved on the island hoping to get more rich.

Mark, who was one of the promoter members of the group called North Blue Traders was only happy about the newbies' ships getting damaged on Reverse mountain, because he got money out of it. The rookies' needed new ships, which he sold to them after he transported them from North Blue, at the same time they also conveyed items they've gathered in the North and sold them with high profit. Then they traveled back on the Marine ship trough Calm Belt. Even if they had to pay for the trip they were always much more rich when they left home.

"So, what kind of a ship you're looking for?" Inari asked her while they walked towards the area ships in sale were anchored. He grimaced as one of the tradesmen told them he had a perfect ship for honeymooners.

"A small one, of course. It'd be more like a boat", she laughed in a calm manner.

"It should have one room for sleeping and eating and whatever I want to do indoors... And a bathroom, of course. And a bit of a storage room would be a plus", she continued smoothly.

"I see. Well, that means we can count out that one?" He pointed at a large ship which was painted orange.

"Yeah, I couldn't steer a ship like that even in my dreams. And that color looks very childish, I wouldn't want that!" She responded.

"But I heard you like bright colors? Well, whatever. The mast seems to be very damaged anyway."  
They walked quiet, looking at the ships. They went past few ships too big before they found one about the size Aika needed.

"How about this one?" Inari asked a bit relieved, maybe he wouldn't have to spend a whole day with her. Aika took a look of it. It looked pretty fine from the outside, but she had to see the insides too. They asked the seller if they could have a closer look and of course he agreed, so they went on board.

It was simple, but Aika kind of liked it already. She could see it was easy to steer alone, which fitted her plans. It had a small room and the toilet which were her priorities. It had very little space but it was okay, she believed her stuff would fit here. She decided already that she would take it if Inari said the ship was sturdy enough.

"What do you think?" He asked her.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing. I think it's fine though."

"Then you should buy it immediately. Ships get sold here very fast", Inari advised her.

"But is it sturdy?" Aika hesitated. She shouldn't do quick decisions.

"Sure looks like for me", he answered.

"Fine, I'll buy it." She took her wallet out of her backpack and walked towards the seller, who seemed very pleased about the way things went. She gave him the money as he gave her the keys for the ship's door.

"Have a nice day!" Seller said, laughing as he marched towards the city.

"Now that I have the boat, you'll probably help me carry my stuff here?" She smirked evilly, just when Inari thought his job here was done.

"Oh... Sure", he reluctantly agreed. It was luckily the last day he had to see her anyway.

After saying goodbyes to North Blue Traders and carefully choosing a log pose Aika was almost ready to go, but there was still something very important missing: food. She also had the money to buy one fine weapon, so she decided to visit some weapon shops if something happened to raise her interest. The blonde woman wandered on the main street of the city, but she couldn't see any shops selling weapons. It was no wonder, since there was a lot people on her way. She started to feel her antisociality kicking in as strangers hurried past her too close, but she decided against screaming and running back to the Heart Cake, which was apparently her boat's name. Just when she was about to curse aloud there suddenly wasn't all that many persons on the street. She looked around, but there still were no signs of shops selling swords. There were lot of cute looking clothes in the shop windows though, but she did have enough clothes for now.

The blonde then noticed a man walking on the street alone. It looked like he was the reason why the people suddenly dashed away. He didn't look very terrifying for Aika at least. He was tall but quite lean and he wore a yellow hoodie and a weird fluffy hat. He did have an admirably long sword though. Maybe he was a pirate? He didn't really look like one. Then the hoodie guy noticed her staring.

"What are you looking at?" He rudely asked before she could dart her gaze elsewhere.

"Uh... Do you happen to know any shop selling swords nearby?" She asked truthfully, blushing since the man had noticed her staring. She didn't like to be stared at, so she shouldn't do that to others.

"No", the man bluntly answered and continued to walk on. Oh well, she could find a shop on her own, it would just take more time.

After thirty minutes Aika saw a shop with the swords she longed for. The shop was quite small but colorfully decorated. The walls were painted rich orange and there were lots of different kinds of paintings on them. The swords looked shiny and sharp, she immediately decided this was a good shop.

"May I help you, miss?" The woman behind the desk asked her.

"Actually I would like to see if you had some fine, lightweight swords with a bit shorter blade than usual", Aika answered blushing very slightly. She hoped she didn't look like a newbie, which she really was. But she had bought one sword at her homeland, so they shouldn't treat her like she knew nothing of swords...

"Oh! I see, we have one here, it just came", the shop keeper woman took a sword behind the desk. She looked really fascinated about the sword.

"It's very light to handle even for a girl like me", she said, even though she looked like she had done some work out. At least she was in better shape than herself, Aika thought.

"It's also very sharp. I bet it can cut trough metal in the hands of a skilled swordsman. Or swordswoman", the woman corrected herself.

"May I have a look?" Aika asked, and the brown haired shop keeper gave it to her with a nod. The woman was right, it was very light. It almost felt like she had a paintbrush in her hands. She smiled at the idea. This was very nice one, indeed. She also tried the blade's sharpness. She flinched as the sword cut her skin. It was almost too sharp, she would probably hurt herself badly when practicing anything new with the sword. It really did feel good in her hand, but there had to be some bad points in it too.

"It's so light it feels like it'll break. Do you think it's very durable?"

"As much as I'd like to say yes, i have to admit that's it's not one of the strongest swords around here. We have a stronger sword here, but it weights more. Then we have a one that's pretty tough and still light, but I thought that's too long for your likings since it's thirty centimetres longer than this", She told her apologetically.

"There will be some new swords in here in few days, so you could come back then", the brunette suggested.

"Nah, I want to continue my journey as fast as possible." It was hard to decide should she take the sword or not. She already had one, but that was very dull already. The stubborn traveler should've had it sharpened, but she was afraid it would damage the old sword. It had to be sharpened by a person she really trusted to deal with the rare metal it was made of. Then again, she also had her knifes she used much more often, since they were easy to hide under clothes so they didn't attract attention. She rarely even carried her former sword anyway.

"The sword's name is Rogue Soul, by the way. It was made by some unknown smith in the South Blue", the shopkeeper started to get excited about the sword again. She was very dedicated for her work.

"Heh, Rogue Soul sounds pretty cool. So how much is it anyway?" Aika asked sighing. She kind of wanted the sword already. She really shouldn't spend money and she really should take a look at the other swords too...

"37 000 belis. It's the best quality sword you'll find on this Island!"

"So much? Uhhuh", She retorted disbelievingly. Sheesh, she had only 40 000 belis for everything. She had to get supplies from the next island too, if she didn't have the chance to … earn money.

"It's very cheap on my meter", the woman said, looking at her challengingly. There was a long silence between them. Aika felt like the woman was looking down on her. She couldn't help but want to buy the goddamned sword.

"Fiiiine", she sighed in a defeated manner and took out her wallet once again. After this it looked starving compared to what it was when she left home.

_'All my savings...' _She thought bitterly.

But the bitterness washed away as the shopkeeper woman gave her the sword and it's sheath. Rogue Soul was very pretty after all, and artists liked pretty things.


	2. The Whitebeard Pirates

After buying lots of food Aika was ready to leave. She left the harbor and steered away from the island, but anchored before she was too far and prepared to paint the island. Although this island wasn't all that wonderful nor did it have interesting history, it was her first island here and her dream was to travel Grand Line and paint every island she visited.

After painting for few hours the blonde painter decided she got the structure of the painting and she could continue on the details later. She lifted the anchor and started to sail ahead the island her Log pose was pointing at. The weather seemed to be changing from nice and sunny into cloudy. It did not make her worry yet, since she thought – being just as stupid as she could be – that the weather couldn't be that dramatic at the beginning the adventure on Grand Line.

Aika was dead wrong about the weather. The wind was blowing hard and she had to struggle to not fall. But the worst thing was the rain which poured so hard it was impossible to see more than hundred meters forward. The rain was making everything so damn slippery too, she cursed her stupidity again. She regretted leaving her home. The waves were getting bigger and bigger, until they were at a point she thought if they still grew she would probably break down, scream of fear and frustration and wet herself. She now remembered very well why she liked her home island so much. The weather was much more reasonable at least, not to mention it was pretty awesome to have some solid land under your feet. Aika sighed worried about herself. She was quickly getting more tired.

On a ship's deck nearby a man was looking trough an old telescope.  
"Oi! I think there's a boat in there!"  
"Are you serious? I don't think any boat would be floating in this kind of storm."  
"Well, it's more like a small ship to be accurate."  
"Really, now. I can't see anything."  
"Look for yourself!" The telescope was given to another man.  
"Oh, now I can see it. Should we tell commander?"  
"Sure, I guess." They quickly went inside, happy to have an excuse to do so. It was getting cold to stand in the pouring rain. They slowly walked to the kitchen, since it was about the time he usually ate there.  
"Oi, Marco", the other man called their commander at the kitchen's door.  
"What is it?" Apparently the man called Marco answered while eating some fine meat.  
"There's a small ship nearby. What should we do about it?" They asked in unison.  
"Well, we should probably welcome it's crew. It's probably hard to steer a small ship in waves like these", he said yawning. He then stood up and went to wash his dishes.  
"I'll come to the deck to greet them soon", he said and the men understood they were no longer needed and went to tell the whole crew about the visitors they would be getting. They really did not want to go outside.

Her curly hair was dripping wet just like she was thoroughly. Her hands were shaking because of the cold but she could not take them off the steering wheel to warm them up. She occasionally tried to warm up her right hand, it was after all the hand she painted with, but didn't help much. Then something dark seemed to be coming towards her. _'Sea kings? Oh great, that's just what I needed'_, she negatively thought. The shape was oddly familiar to her, but the other ship had to came real close before she recognized it. Aika felt

relieved, but she couldn't relax yet. Who knows if they were just trying to rob her.

_'That would not happen'_, she smirked as she felt her new sword resting on her hip.

"Oi! You there! Need help?" Aika looked up at the ships deck and saw people looking at her. She felt ashamed of her lack of carefulness. She felt really stupid, but she just had to take a blow to her enormous ego and say yes.  
"I guess.." She muttered quietly, cheeks red because she felt she was too dependent on others' help.  
"What?" It seemed that they didn't hear her. No wonder since it was raining heavily.  
"Yes, I could use a little help!" She shouted. She then saw they threw a strong rope on her ship's deck.  
"Attach it to your boat, so we'll tow you out of the storm!" The man told her.

"Okay, I got it", she answered quickly and tied it up. The rope felt very abnormal, maybe it was made of some material she didn't know. A normal rope would've probably broke off quickly.

"Would you mind to come to greet us up here?" The same man asked her. Aika was about to answer yes I would mind, but then she thought it would probably be polite to thank them. She did not leave her sword though.

The men lowered ladders for Aika and she grabbed them and climbed up to the ships deck. It felt like the hardest thing for the sometimes very lazy painter had to do for years, climbing upward on slippery ladders.

_'I should probably get used to do things like this'_, she thought before taking the final step. She gasped as she got to see the men on the bigger ship. Her eyes widened at the sight – Her helpers were the Whitebeard pirates. The thought of the strongest pirate, Edward Newgate made her feel terrified but the fact the first commander of the Whitebeard pirates, Marco the phoenix was standing in front of her wasn't making her feel much better either.

"Don't hurt me!" Aika squeaked when one of the men dared to move. They all looked at her like she was impossibly stupid, before they started laughing in unison. She felt a bit dumbfounded about her wariness but it didn't make her relax either.  
"We wouldn't help you just to beat you up!" A guy in a dark denim boiler suit said while laughing.  
"That's right", Marco the Phoenix said making the crew more quiet but the chuckling still continued merrily.  
"We're a bit bored here so we're happy to have same guests here." He continued trying to make the girl relax since she was shaking visibly, because of the cold or the fear he did not know.  
"The name's Marco", he offered his hand to shake hands with the girl. He was somewhat curious about the blonde girl's name – Who was crazy enough to travel Grand Line alone, when it was obvious she was a newbie?  
"I'm Lec Aika. It's nice to meet you. Thanks for helping, too", Aika blabbered. They shook hands quickly. His hand felt hot after standing in the rain for long.  
"It's no problem. Would you like to join Whitebeard pirates?" He asked so fast Aika could barely get what he said. She did feel flattered about he asked her to join even after they saved her from her extreme stupidity. She actually had to consider it for a quick while, but joining them wouldn't just feel right after she decided to travel alone. It was also because they were pirates and she wasn't interested in pirates.  
"Join you? I'm sorry to say no, but I'm more of a revolutionary than a pirate", she tried to decline without offending them in any way.  
"A shame!" Few men sighed.  
"You don't really know what are you losing", a woman with a violin holster on her back sighed, but she seemed to be somewhat joking.  
"You don't really seem know who you're turning down!" A dude with long black hair laughed loudly. Hearing that made her tremble even more.  
"That's right, beware of the man in front of you, girl! Marco has no idea when to back down when against a woman... According to what happened last night!" There was a very laid back guy leaning on the wall, who seemed to laugh at the memory.  
"Shut it, Groove", Marco said, but smiling as he saw the crew was just having fun.  
"We'll you must want to be an ally of ours, right?" Marco asked Aika his eyes half lidded and smiling brightly. That actually sounded good to Aika. Sure, she would definitively want to be allies with the Whitebeard pirates, that would scare some bounty hunter off when she got her wanted poster. Not like she really desired for one, but that was going to happen sooner or later if she got to work with the revolutionaries. They also seemed to be a happy-go-lucky amongst themselves. It seemed like a fine deal. Also, she did owe them after this, since the waves were still big as hell, though the rain seemed to be stopping.

"Sure. I'll make sure you won't regret for having me as your ally!" She dared to even smile.

"I'm sure we won't!" He then turned to face the crew.  
"It seems like we can throw a party once we get back to Pops' ship", he said, making everyone one the deck hurray. Well, they really did seem like a happy bunch, Aika sighed. She was still very nervous about being with them and thinking about meeting the whole Whitebeard crew made her sweat. But if the party was for her becoming their ally – which was weird, it wasn't much of anything to party for—it was probably polite to be there... Not like she had the strength to steer the ship in a storm right now.

"Wakey wakey!" Will, as the woman with the violin had introduced herself chirped at Aika's sleeping form. Aika groaned, she couldn't believe herself. She fall asleep on unknown ship, which could still be dangerous even if she agreed to be their ally. Her muscles were sore, especially her hands were hurting from hanging on to Heart Cake's ropes and from handling the steering wheel.

"Sorry to wake you up, you look like you haven't slept in years!" Will laughed.

"Oh great", Aika yawned and thought darkly that she must look like zombie now. She didn't still stand up because she wished she could still sleep for few hours.

"Don't be like that! You better brush your hair and change into your own clothes, we're going to show you around on Moby Dick. You're going to see pops, too", she grinned evilly, as she saw Aika's eyes widen at the thought.

"You mean Whitebeard himself?" There was fear in her voice. No wonder, Whitebeard was rumored to be the strongest pirate alive.

"Yes I do", Will tried to muffle her giggles as Aika rushed to change her clothes.

"I'm ready!" Aika hurried out of the bathroom in a minute. Her hair was still a bit shaggy, but otherwise she looked normal, if those dark circles under her eyes weren't noticed. She checked that her sword was still hanging on her belt, which made her feel more confident.

"Awesome", Will said while braiding a wisp of her light green hair.

"You ready to go meet the strongest pirate on earth, the future pirate king Edward Newgate?" Will continued, still smiling. Aika assumed she didn't have much choice on the matter and nodded.

They then left the room and headed outside. The corridors were filled with people looking at them curiously, making Aika sweatdrop.

_'Mind you own business'_, she thought still irritated from the lack of sleep. On the deck they met Marco, who seemed to be waiting for them.

"There you are! There was traffic at the corridors, but I managed to bring her", she joked first, but then she whispered something to Marco who nodded. Aika wasn't looking at them, though, she was left gasping air as she saw the huge ship beside the ship she was on. Her Heart Cake looked like a little paper boat compared to Moby Dick. The ships deck reminded a whale, which was very fitting for the ship. It truly was a whale when the other ships were just mere fish.

When most of the crew had proceeded to Moby Dick to greet their buddies Will gestured her to follow after them. As they got up on bigger ship by temporary stairs they moved trough the crowd easily, because the people were respectively giving way for Marco who walked in front of them. Suddenly Will stepped aside, winked and gave her thumbs up and told her to follow Marco. Aika dashed after him worried about how might Whitebeard deal with her.

'_Oh god!'_ Her mind was screaming when she saw the captain of the Whitebeard pirates. He was surprisingly tall, which made Aika even more afraid. All looks turned to them when Marco started talking.

"Oi, pops!" He saw the blonde painter's horror and tried to calm her down by patting her shoulder, but that just made her jump.

"This is Lec Aika. She said we wouldn't regret being her ally", Marco explained easygoing. _'Why did I put it like that? Now I sound like I'm full of myself!'_ She considered fleeing and jumping off board. She didn't dare to look at Whitebeard, so she looked on the ground in front the seat he was sitting on.  
"Gurararara~! So your name is Aika?" Whitebeards laugh echoed on the sea as the crew were silent. Aika couldn't bring herself to say anything, so she just nodded.

"We will not regret to have you as our ally, is that right?" The tall man said repeating the words she had told Marco. She felt a huge amount of pressure on her shoulders. She felt the stares on her. If the blood wasn't rushing so fast off her face she would've been red because of the attention she was given. Sweating and trembling visibly she gathered all the courage she had and looked up, to meet the eyes of the strongest pirate alive. His look was so powerful Aika felt like she could faint, but the she got the words out of her mouth.  
"Tha-that's what I said, I-I will not go back on my words", she stuttered.

"Gurararara! I trust you to keep your promise then!" The atmosphere changed immediately, as the people started whispering about the party they would be having.

"Well, then. Marco, did you bring the sake I asked for?" The attention was now turned to first commander.

"Sure I did. Men, will you carry them here? And bring the food we bought, too", He asked, turning to the crew who did what they were told. As he saw them getting to work he turned back to the captain.

"We'll have to celebrate our alliance, don't we?" One of the commanders grinned happily.

"That's what I had in mind", Marco smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"You do anything to have a feast, don't you", another one of the commanders commented.

"It's been a while I had some good sake. We might as well celebrate", Whitebeard finally accepted the idea.

"If you say so", the commander with a cowboy hat grinned, getting eager to party. Aika quickly bended in the group and peered over the heads trying to catch a sight of Will, because she already knew her and she seemed nice.

"Would you like to have a tattoo to prove you're a true ally of ours?" Groove, who she had earlier seen asked her. She considered it for a while. It would be a cool way to scare off bounty hunters, but would she like to have it forever on her skin? Well, if it increased her chances to stay alive, it was okay.

"How much does it hurt getting one?" She asked brows furrowing as she was thinking.

"Not much at all!" Groove waved it off and started asking her questions about what kind of a tattoo she wanted, while he leaded her inside trough many corridors inside his tattoo room.

"Where do you want it?"

"In here", she decided fast, before she could regret. She pointed at her shoulder blade.

"Okay, this will hurt a bit", he said, but before she could say anything he had already started doing the tattoo.

When Aika and Groove got back to the deck where the party was at it's wildest, Will had already made her appearance. She now had the violin in her hands, ready to play. There were other musicians on her side, so Aika guessed they were going to play together. She wiped the last tears off her eyes, so no one would notice she had cried. Not that they wouldn't notice how puffy and red her eyes still were...

"Cheer up already. You're such a wimp when it comes to tattoos it makes me wonder if you're nuts to sail alone!" Groove tried to get her in a better mood. It kind of worked and when the orchestra started playing, she was feeling pretty good even if she already started regretting the tattoo.

They played a happy and melody, which made her smile thoughtlessly. People started dancing, she saw them stumble and laugh at each other, others we're bickering because the someone had just stepped on the their feet and some were dancing gracefully along the crowd. When Will started to sing, almost everyone started to sing along. Aika didn't know the lyrics, so she just hummed along. They all looked purely happy. She started to wonder, if she should ask if she could stay.

There was a delicious smell in the air, when she remembered she was actually very hungry. Just when the thought of food crossed her mind, her stomach started to rumble. The food table was not very far so she walked to it. There was a loth of people gathered around it.

"Stupid! Don't steal mine!" A guy with a boiler suit shouted angrily at the guy, who had just stolen his beef.

"Don't worry, there's still plenty of them there!" The guy pointed at the other end of the table.

"Idiot! Then why are you stealing mine!" Boiler suit guy groaned. He then stood up and tried to get something from the other guys plate.

"Hey! Hands off!" The guy, who Aika now recognized as fire fist Ace complained.

"I want revenge!" The other gnarled.

"Have mine and shut up, Smiley!" A man sitting next to second commander offered his plate. Smiley did indeed have a smiley in his boiler suit.

"Fine... If you go get me some sake also." Smiley grinned.

"No way, take it or leave it!" Guy who had a yellow cap on his head said. He was getting tired of their lack of etiquette.

"Oh hey! Aren't you the new ally of ours? I'm Ace!" He introduced himself, even though he didn't need to.

"I'm Aika", she said and they shook hands very casually. Or so the second commander must have thought, but Aika was still very aware he could probably kill her instantly.

"Oh hi! I'm Smiley!"

"My name's Cheberon", yellow capped man said and they all shook hands promptly.

"Nice to meet you all", she said trying to keep her voice as normal as possible.

"Have some soup!" Cheberon offered her a plate after seeing the way she looked at their plates.

"Hey Melda, make some space!" Smiley ordered the woman next to him. Aika sat there and poured a lot of soup and started eating like she had never seen food before.

"Calm down or you'll drown!" Cheberon made fun of her, but she didn't mind. The music made her feel giddy and the fact she had some wine didn't help it.

Soon after eating Smiley asked her to dance with him and she agreed. It was dance where pairs changed quickly and the rhythm was too fast for her so she stumbled a lot, but so did everyone else it seemed. She looked at Will who was passionately playing the violin like there was nothing else in the world she could care about.

"C'mon!" Her soon to be dancing partner hurried her when she seemed to pace out. Aika smiled widely and grabbed his hands and so they tried to catch the rhythm.

"Left-left right-right go-go back-back go-go twirl and jump!" They tried to count them out loud, but it helped none as they started laughing at how stupid they sounded. So their pairs changed again. Marco, who just joined the bunch of crappy dancers, took her hands and the counting started once again.

"Are you sure you don't want to join as a regular member?" He asked, holding her hands firmly.

"I don't like crowds." It was the alcohol which brought her true impolite ways in daylight – or in starlight, as the sun had set already.

"But you certainly seem to be having a great time", Marco was not fazed by her sudden frankness.

"At times, yes, but not always. And I don't like to do anything people tell me to", She answered truthfully.

"I expect you won't be staying too long, then?" Marco got just the time to ask that, before the pairs changed once again.

"You right about that one!" She smirked and waved before she introduced herself to the next guy.

"Oi! Oi!" The music finally stopped after few rounds, which made Aika notice how exhausted she was.

"Pops' nurses just complained about the noise. They have to wake early so why don't we move into the main hall to give them better sleep, as they are farther away from the hall." Everyone agreed, of course, they didn't want to bother their fellow crew mates even if they enjoyed to party.

The hall was just as big as you could expect from a ship that big. It had many sofas on the sides, so Aika settled on one of them. Will came along too, bringing what was left from the sake which made the party princesses and princes gather around them as well. Cheberon had had too much to drink, so he fell asleep on the other sofa opposite of them. Poor him, because that's just about when they stated having heated conversations about everything that came to their minds.

"Have I ever told you I have a brother?" Ace slurred. There were plenty of sighs heard, but Aika got interested about the second commander's brother.

"No, I haven't heard", she said looking at Ace's drunk figure.

"Oh great, here we go again", Marco, who was leaning on the sofa behind her groaned.

"Yeah I do have a little brother... Monkey D. Luffy", he said slowly, emphasizing the name. He then took a folded poster out of his pocket. It was a wanted poster of some guy, grinning madly. The bounty was 30 000 000 belis, which made her surprised.

"This was his first bounty!" Ace said proudly, which made the blonde woman's jaw hit the floor.

"His first bounty! How can it be this high? What did he do?" She raised her voice more than she intended to.

"I don't know what he did but this is to be expected from him, making me worry all the time", Ace sighed, but his voice didn't lose the proud tint.

"Do you have any siblings?" Will asked while sipping some sake.

"I do have a brother who's older than me by four years. His name is Aslak. He looks a lot like me, just a bit taller, so if you see him please tell him I'm on Grand Line as well", The blonde requested feeling melancholic. It had been long since she saw her brother and now she couldn't see the letters which were send to her home. She didn't even have his a den den mushi number. Not that she had a den den mushi anyway. Aika instantly decided she should get one sooner or later.

"Is he on the Grand Line, too?" Marco couldn't help but butt in. His curiosity demanded to get information about their newbie ally, after all, he's motto could have been curiosity saved the cat instead of killing. He was worried that it would make Aika wary of him, but his thoughts proved him wrong. It seemed she was too drunk to be afraid of them anymore or she just got used to them.

"He is, Aslak actually left my home island few years before me. He -" Aika suddenly stopped, realizing she didn't know could she tell them. The blonde promptly switched the topic she was going to talk about.

"He rarely wrote us any letters and if he did they were very... succinct", she remembered how annoying it was to get a letter which consisted a few sentences after she sent him a few pages full of writing.

Marco blinked his eyes, feeling like Aika had just left out something. Oh well, he got some information already, so he was satisfied and ready for some sleep.

"I'm ready for bed already. Have a nice night", he said smiling before he walked towards his own room. They all wished good night for him as well before continuing.

"I have a sister", Will started looking horrified to remember something she had forgotten long time ago.

"And I hate her. She always woke me up too early, she put gum on my hair and called me mold brain, because my hair color apparently reminds mold..." She gritted her teeth. They laughed at her childish sister.

"My brother was actually just as annoying back then", Ace said sympathetically.

"Sheesh, mold head... More like moss head", Smiley chuckled.

"No it's not! Moss is nothing like that. It's definitively grass green", Remmy, who Aika had earlier danced with said analyzing the color of Will's hair. She tried to cover it, but her hands weren't big enough.

"You must be wrong, it's actually the color of a bud of a birch leaf", Aika was sure about it.

"But wasn't your real name Willow?" A guy who's name Aika did not know yet said to them. He had a crazy hairstyle which made him outstanding.

"Sure is, Thatch. I thought I only told Marco, so how do you know?" Will's lips were curved downwards as she planned how she could have revenge on Marco for telling Thatch. Not that knowing her whole name mattered at all, but who knows what else he could've said.

"Don't be so serious! It must've slipped when we we're talking about your history", he smiled soothingly, before he realized what slipped from him.

"Uh, I mean... We we're wondering about something and..." Thatch tried to explain, but it did no good. Will had just reached the end of her patience and attacked, trying to make just one hit but she went nowhere near. It was hopeless for her, but it did keep Thatch busy. The group gathered at those sofas laughed at the sight.

It wasn't much after 02.00 when the last one of them fell asleep on the sofa or went to their rooms. First one to pass out after Cheberon was Ace, who wasn't quite in control of his sleep timings. He snored loudly, still in a sitting position. Willow used him as a pillow for her curvy legs and so did Aika – they both were allured by the warmth of the fire fist, which was slightly higher than normal person's. There was another person lured by the heat, Remmy, who hugged one of Ace's legs. Smiley, on the other hand was using him as a pillow. There were a bunch of people whose names Aika wouldn't remember in the morning sleeping harmoniously around them. Partying was hard, In fact it was at it's hardest on Moby Dick.

* * *

Don't expect chapters as long as this :D

It seems kind of stupid meeting the Whitebeard pirates so soon on the Grand Line, but these guys will me a minor thing for a long time in the story.


	3. Swatsea Kingdom

"It seems to be a deep scratch only. Don't worry about it", the nurse said to Will who was trembling terribly.

"But Thatch is dead... Dead, eternally! I can't believe it! It can't be, he was just beside me just few hours back!" She sobbed desperately.

"Take them to the infirmary, Page. I'll have look at the fourth commander", the nurse said coolly. It was no time to panic. She wanted to check what happened to Thatch, even if Krys was already checking if he was still alive. She rushed over Thatch' side and tried his breathing.

"His heart is not beating anymore", Krys said her eyes getting more and more wet, but she did her best at remaining calm. It did not help the situation with Ace at all. He was furious – he had a very good reason to be – but he was so downright uncontrollably furious even Marco had a challenge to keep him from immediately chasing after Teach until he could kill him. Marco knew Ace must have felt like it was his responsibility, but he couldn't leave without pop's permission. It was the first time for a long time for Marco to feel this helpless. He wanted have revenge, too, as soon as possible, but it was too hasty to charge without having to know what happened.

Rachel was about to give up, but she felt like a weak breath was still tingling her cheek. It could have been the wind, but it lifted her hopes a bit. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, she thought and took the situation under control.

"Bale! Get the stretcher, and damn fast too!" She snapped.

"Krys! Run to the infirmary and prepare the operation table as fast as possible!" Krys reacted immediately, as she was taught.

"Temp, you come here to carry him!" She ordered the closest man next to him. Then Rachel turned to Ace, who was still creating havoc with his rage.

"Ace! Do you want to save him or not!" She screamed angrily when Bale brought the stretcher. Ace looked at her dumbfounded, before realizing she was asking for help to carry Thatch's body. He couldn't disobey and he started running towards infirmary with Temp.

Rachel followed them, but she did give them one last order:  
"Marco, you make sure everyone calms the fuck down!"

The operation room was silent, when Rachel stepped in. She tied her black hair up and washed her hands before having a look at the body, which lied down on the table.

"It was too harsh on them to liven up that bit of hope they had", Krys sighed.

"His heart has stopped, I checked it multiple times", she added.

"Do you know the damage he got?" Rachel asked without notifying what Krys said.

"He's got shot trough his heart. I guess the bullet was explosive, so the heart is pretty much smashed", Bale answered honestly. Rachel studied the open wound.

"It seems so", she curtly said. The blood was pouring on her hands. Thatch was in a hopeless condition. They would need a miracle. Sham, the newest nurse started crying openly. Bale patted her shoulder, soothing her a bit.

She decided to check if Thatch really breathed or if it was just the wind she had felt. She leaned towards Thatch's mouth and waited. For a while, there was nothing. But suddenly, like an electric shock she felt the slightest flow of air on her cheek.  
"I think he's breathing still", Rachel got excited. They were all silent for a couple of seconds.

"Have you ever heard of man whose heart does not beat but he's still alive and well?" Chorbet asked them, a wishful glint in her eyes.

"That's impossible!" Krys gasped. Rachel thought so too, but she was open for ideas in this situation.

"Well, you may have not heard of it, but I have seen the guy myself. The man had a really bad heart ache and his heart stopped beating, but his veins still kept pumping blood. It was something never seen before, but I felt with my own hand that he had no heart beat. So, if he is still breathing after his heart has stopped, it seems the blood is still flowing because of an unknown matter which makes it possible for him to survive without a correctly working heart", Chorbet explained.

"But that means he's losing a lot of blood, too. Krys, go get some blood, type 0+. But how do we patch that thing up? Are we supposed to rebuild his heart?" They looked worried at the spot Thatch's heart was supposed to be. They had to figure out a way.

Aika wondered, if it was stupid to leave so suddenly, But even if they were allies it was none of their business where she went and when, really. But being the considerate person she was, she had said to Thatch she was leaving and he came to say goodbyes on the deck. He also gave the den den mushi number to Moby Dick, so she could call them later.

They waved at each other when she departed and sailed farther. She was so far she didn't hear him get shot.

The weather was once again very bad, but nothing compared to the storm she witnessed earlier. The wind was luckily blowing into the right direction, so she had the time to finish the painting of Navioveneh and start painting a portrait of Will, because she had such an interesting hair color. Before the evening the weather was clearing and so she relaxed about it and continued to paint late into the night. It didn't go as well as she wished, so she sketched the borderlines of Groove's portrait before getting to bed. Her day had been perfect – relaxing alone and painting. There wasn't much more she could wish. Sleeping in her own bed also felt so much better – though she was feeling a little cold.

The next day she arrived at a new island. It looked like a very normal, small autumn island looking from far, but the closer she came it came more visible the strangeness of the buildings crew. They had odd shapes and colors. Some were made of glass only.

The harbor was quite big and there were lots of beautiful and big ships making her Heart Cake once again look very ugly. Compared to the buildings it looked like a beauty, though. She locked the door before heading to the city. She was ready for some new adventures. Aika spotted a stall selling leaflets of the city and walked in there.

"Oh hello there. Is this your first time in the city of art, Golden Sound? Have you ever visited the whole island of Swatsea Kingdom?" The old tradesman asked her politely.

"Yeah, sure is", she answered shortly. She was never the one for small talk, but the city of art seemed very interesting.

"Well then, I would recommend you some fine art museums. The most important thing to see is Mr. Stenwall's collection of fine art. It's the most popular show this month", he kindly told her.

"That sounds interesting, I might as well visit. But could you tell me how long does it take to log pose to get ready here?"

"Two days, miss", the man answered with interest about the log pose.

"Are you traveling?"

"I am. Thank you for your information", Aika thanked the man and slipped away before any more questions were asked. Few days... She might as well visit some art galleries. She was definitively interested about this island. No wonder the buildings were so odd, if they were freely designed by architects. But first she wanted some fine food.

Soon she found a restaurant with the qualities she wished for: good food and very few people. She ordered something that sounded good and she got what she wanted – food that tasted good. After eating she visited Trenwall's collection only to be disappointed at first sight. First there was a painting of squares in different colors. There were actually four versions of this painting. Then there was the type called color spots, which was circles in different colors. The collection was thoroughly just about different geometric shapes in different colors. She was deadly disappointed. Was this the Golden Sound, the city of art? It was very narrow way to look at art.

She then visited another museum, wanting to prove herself wrong, but again there were just mere geometric stuff on those frames. After the total of 14 museums and collections she hadn't still seen anything else but geometric shapes. Didn't they think realistic paintings were art too? Were they just ignorant? She had to know. She had heard of this magical art city from her book and dreamed of it as a place where any artist could come to express themselves and their ideas. It should be the home of freedom of speech! Aika slouched to the stall she met the helpful man to ask him something again.

"Good evening, miss!" He greeted her with a smile as he arranged his leaflets back in place.

"How can I help you?" He then asked, noticing the asking look on her face.

"How come all the museums contain only the same type of paintings? There's hardly any sculptures and I haven't seen anything realistic either. I happen to like realistic paintings the most, so it was quite a disappointment", Aika blurted out.

"That's weird, the last time I visited the Stenwall's collection there were plenty of paintings I bet you would've liked. But I have to tell you that it's been a long time from that and I actually don't live here, I just come here to earn money", the old man started wondering about what had happened to the art galleries.

"There will be a cocktail party at the town hall the day after tomorrow. If you were to attend, miss, you might get to ask the mayor about this", he suggested, happy to help her.

"Sounds like a plan", she smirked.

"Here's the invitation to the party, it is written here when it starts and what's the dress code."

"Thank you really much, you're a great help", she smiled at the old man thankfully before heading out of the stall.

She glanced the leaflets she got trough, finding out that Mr. Stenwall was the mayor of the city. He must be the mayor she needed to talk with.

"Perfect!" Aika giggled. She already got pumped up for the event, though she'd need a fine dress since that's what was said about the dress code. She'd buy it tomorrow with the money she had left, since staling was out of question. She didn't want to attract attention before the party. Aika pranced back to her ship and went straight to bed.

The next morning she took her paints and pencils and started to paint with new found inspiration to draw everyone she met on the Moby Dick, just like she had painted portraits of Aslak and Mark. The other North Blue Traders she met were painted with aquarelles in her sketchbook. She looked them trough, intending to gradually learn which poses and lightnings she should use and what background colors would suit them. She had to spare some canvases so she painted the portraits in her sketchbook. She started with Thatch, who's face she remembered well.

On the midday she got her wallet and went to the city to find the damn dress. First she found a newspaper stall and ordered some to her ship. It was important to keep up of what happened around the world. She then walked into the first clothes shop she found. There weren't many dresses, but she found one that pleased her.

"May help you?" A girl little younger than Aika herself asked her.

"I'm going to attend the party in the town hall tomorrow.. Do you think this'll work?" She asked the girl, blushing since she had no idea about which would look good on her. She usually just wore something that felt comfortable.

"Well, it takes the attention out of your face", the girl tried to see the positive points. Aika looked puzzled.

"Did you just tell me I look ugly?" She glared at the girl, who looked scared now.

"No, but isn't it obvious?" She said being very blunt about it. Aika took that as a yes and punched her square at the face and stomped out of the shop only noticing she was still holding the dress.

_'So much for not attracting attention... At least I didn't spend money and that girl was so asking for a punch.'_

In the evening she decided to organize her stuff, because the ship was such a mess. Few hours later it didn't look any better, because she just had so much stuff she couldn't throw away. She straightened the painting of her homeland and her family. Gosh, how much she missed them already. Beside them there were the North Blue Traders group picture which made her smile. They were such nice fellows, she sighed and moved on to the weapons locker. Her hands quickly opened the lock with the keys she had hanging around her neck. The lid opened to expose her old sword filled decorated with bear-shaped engravings, many knifes because she kind of collected them, a dagger she had named Nils because she bought it from a North Blue Trader called Nils-Arvil, her bow her father gave and the tomahawk she has had for ages. She also had an old revolver her parents gave her for self defense, but she had a terrible aim so it wasn't much use if some one attacked. She usually kept it under her bed in case some one attacked while she was sleeping.

Aika grabbed her older sword to clean it. She wiped the dust and dirt of the blade carefully before rubbing sweat off it's handle. She cleaned the rest of the weapons just as carefully before choosing the knife she'd take with her to the party. Knifes were awfully useful, they were easy to hide but they still made some effective damage. The only problem was that the range was too short and she didn't like to have enemies too close. She chose the one she bought from the island before the Reverse mountain. It was very small, but she'd get a good grip of it. She had named it Bleach, since the handle was made from unusually light wood.

There was lot's of stuff underneath the blonde's bed to be moved if she wanted to mop the whole floor. There were her tools and shoes she didn't need at the moment. She pulled the shoe box out of the bed's underneath. There weren't many, just sandals, leather boots, galoshes and one pair of high heels she'd need tomorrow. She threw them next to the front door and pulled the box back. She could mop later, now she wanted to decide which jewelries she'd wear tomorrow. The jewelries were in her closet where she also kept her clothes. She looked them trough and selected a necklace she liked very much. It was a simple symbol, a square with loops at the corners (⌘) made of common steel. The ribbon was black leather, so they would match her black high heels. Her outfit was ready, so she could now focus on painting once again, forgetting about the cleaning.

It was very strange for her to wake up this early, she thought while she was looking at the sunrise, a palette and brushes on her hands and a white canvas in front of her. She had decided to paint the island in the beautiful sunrise, it did give the island a stunning lightning.

The sun rose fast and the party's starting time came even faster, so she changed into the red dress she stole and put on her necklace and shoes. Then she slipped the knife under her hem and took off her ribbon, letting her hair flow freely. A bit of red lipstick and she was ready to interrogate that bastard.

She sneaked inside of the house and acted as normal as possible, but it wasn't easy blending in when the guests were all so abnormal. That's what artists usually were, but this was a bit too much. One had a hat, which truthfully was a fruit basket where the woman took fruits for a snack. Other had made her dress from toiled paper, which luckily wasn't used yet... She wandered around, taking sips from the wine glass a waitress had offered her. The wine was gross, so she abandoned the glass on some table and started seriously searching for that mayor. As she was leering, she spotted the hoodie guy she saw on Navioveneh. Now that she thought of it, that guy looked very suspicious, even if he did have clothes that blended in. He observed the people in the party with a cold smirk on his tanned face.

_'It must be the hat that's making him look like an outlaw. Or actually it's the facial expression and the confidence he's having'_, she analyzed the man before turning her gaze away. It was very rude to stare.

Her gaze hit another suspicious fellow. He had a neat military uniform, so he probably was the kingdom's own military member, since the colors weren't the ones the navy used. The man had a gravity defying black hair which stuck out. He had manly features, making him very appealing in his uniform.

_'I can't believe myself... But damn that's hot. If I ever get married I'll make my man always were a uniform like that'_, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed for such thoughts, so she turned her head away to see if the mayor already arrived. He supposedly had, because the people were silent like they were waiting for some one to talk.

They looked up to the glimmering stairs with the red carpet. Aika heard some one walking slowly on the marble floor. The house surely was luxurious – there was golden decorations everywhere, the floors and walls were made of pure white marble.

"Welcome, my friends!" The man started the opening speech.

"We have gathered here to celebrate the Art City of Golden Sound, for the sake we have now fulled our collections with the finest art only! We don't want the silver, when we can have the gold, do we!" She heard some people whispering, but decided to focus on the speech.

"As the mayor of the art city I want to have tourists to see the best of the best from now on. To keep this happening, we also have to persuade new artists to understand the art's true form. For that I have started my new project, in which I have forbid the schools in this city to teach about art other than what I tell. The king of Swatsea approves my project, so soon we'll have made this island a paradise for artists." He ended and the audience started to clap their hands furiously.

Aika was sure more than ever that the Mayor was a bastard and she needed to be punched in the face hard. She wouldn't wait any longer, and as the mayor had come down she approached him

"May I have a word with you?" She called for him, gritting her teeth.

"Oh sure! Are you, perhaps a beginner artist?" Mr. Stenwall asked her as he leaded her out of the ruckus, obviously missing the dangerous look on her face.

"I'm in no means a beginner", she scoffed. She would usually call herself a painter, not an artist but in this case it was different.

"What do you think is true art?" Aika asked, giving him a chance to calm her down.

"Ohhoh! Straight into business? Well, haven't you visited my art collection? The only way of art is apparent there", Stenwall smirked proudly.

"That's art and that only?" The blonde sneered at his idiocy.

"You'll regret being so restrained on that matter. Art is not controllable", she threatened him. Before they could continue on this matter, there were a loud havoc in the middle of the ballroom.

"What's this?" Mr. Stenwall panicked and rushed towards the people. Aika let him go, since she was also surprised by the havoc.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please gather on the side I'm pointing, if you value your petty lives. We will be going trough your belongings and take everything worth something. In return you'll keep your lives if you do as you're told", A man was talking into a megaphone. The masses of artists run to the side he pointed at, terrified. Aika was left petrified on the other side. She was hardly grasping the situation, as her feelings changed from angry to scared but even more surprised – It was the suspicious hoodie guy after all. 'He must be a pirate', thoughts flowed slowly in her head.

"Miss, would you please go there so I don't have to kill you", he said his voice low. It made her react, she jogged towards the mass of hysteric people.

He was easily in control of the whole hall. He had his subordinates guarding the possible escape routes. It was actually very interesting how they took over the situation. Aika would've liked to see them work some more, if she wasn't included. Few of the hoodie guy's allies checked them one buy one, taking all the valuable things they had – money, jewelries and so on. After getting checked the artists got on the other side of the hall to wait for the others.

"You, in the red dress!" Other one of the checkers called her out. She was worried about this, she had nothing pricey. She didn't even take her money. It was impossible to escape the situation, so she had to do as she was told for now, which made her furious. Why did she have to leave home anyway! She was such an idiot. Fortunately she was smart enough to take the knife with her, but using it now wouldn't help. That hoodie pirate captain would pierce her before she even reached him, not to mention she didn't know if he had other skills than using the long nodachi.

She walked to the reddish brown haired man without a better plan.

"I have nothing valuable", she said trying her best to look like a lost kitten. She felt stupid to do so, but maybe it'd help somehow.

"Give me your necklace, then", the guy commanded.

"Sure, but it's only made of steel." Saying that made the guy look stressed.

"Fuck this", he hissed before shouting at the hoodie guy.

"Oi, Captain! This one says she's got nothing!"

"Send her here", he answered shortly. Aika walked over obediently, thinking of the best ways to kill the boss and run away, but nothing came up. She stood in front of the man, afraid to look in his eyes so she fiddled the hem of her dress. The man unsheathed his sword and pointed at her neck with it.  
"Look at me. If you lie, I'll slice your neck open. Is it true that you have nothing valuable?" He interrogated her, still smirking. Fumbling the knife, she put on her best puppy look and looked in his eyes. She even did that lip trembling -stunt.

"No... I have nothing... This pendant is made of steel so I have nothing you would like", her eyes started watering because she kept her eyes open for long, improving the puppy eyes.

"We'll use her as a hostage to get out, then", the captain decided with no mercy at all.

It took a while to go trough all the pompous artists but it made the pirates very rich.

"Let's go", the captain said as he grabbed her neck, making her choke. To kill her was not his intention yet, but he wanted to make the girl inept. Aika tried to pull his hand off but he had a grip of steel.

_'What's with these powers, damn it to hell!'_ She struggled to breathe. The pirates with their hostage run out, only to get surrounded by marines.

"Shit, captain! They knew!" One of the men cursed, carrying a huge bag full of expensive jewelries.

"That was to be expected", the captain said calmly, lifting his sword in an attacking position while his other hand was still choking her.

"It's the surgeon of death!" One of the marines gasped.

"Trafalgar Law, the captain of the Heart pirates, you are under arrest!" The marine officer with a beard said loudly. Aika grinned happily, it was about time she had a chance of escaping. She relaxed and let her hands drop. The silence was intruded by footsteps of the suspicious guy number two, who came out of the door, walking really slow just to make them angry apparently.

"So it's you, the surgeon of death", he stated coolly before he unsheathed his sword.

"I would like to fight you as well."

_'Great timing!' _Aika though and gripped her knife and stabbed it into the tattooed hand which was holding her. The pirate captain grunted and let go, so she made her escape.

The blonde ran past the marines without looking back until she was far enough to turn back. She was panting hard, hands shaking but the right one still gripping hard the bloodied knife. The marines became wary as the blue sphere formed around them. It seemed like the pirate was controlling it, so maybe he had eaten a devil fruit to have such powers. Perhaps she looked too helpless to harm them, so they didn't expect her to act. Whatever was the reason, it was pure luck and timing she got to escape so easily. She'd need to work on that self defense anyway. Aika turned her back at the fight and ran to her ship to sail away from this jinxed island.


	4. Cold Journey

The sea was unexpectedly calm even though Aika was very far away from the island she left behind. It was very foggy and cool though, so she decided to have a warm shower before going to sleep. She checked her log pose that she was still going to the right direction and went to her miniscule bathroom. As said, it was very small – It had the toilet seat, sink and the shower stall. Her shampoos and other hygiene products barely fitted there and when she tried to wash her thick hair she always hit the walls and got bruised from her elbows.

After washing her hair with scentless shampoo made only from natural ingredients she let the warm water pour on her head freely. She hummed her favorite tunes for a while to calm herself down – the day had been exhausting. Then she turned the water off and wrapped herself into a warm towel only to notice from the mirror that she had a reddish dint on her neck.

"Stupid man... Wasn't his name Trafalgar? He'd better learn to leave people alone", she muttered. She then had a look at the tattoo on her shoulder blade. It was healing already. The memory of the Whitebeard pirates seemed unreal, but the tattoo was there to remind her that she promised they wouldn't regret becoming her ally. She had to think of something to repay them.

The next day she got the newspaper she ordered. First she heard someone knock on her door, and she automatically opened it only to see the magazine and a bird flying into the horizon. It was some great customer service.

"Mm... The revolutionaries are on move it seems", she glanced trough an article about mysterious bombings made on some island in the New World. She grinned, it was about time they did something. She hoped to meet some revolutionaries soon. Her eyes hit the article about the hoodie guy. As it seemed, his name was Trafalgar Law and he had a dangerous devil fruit power. He had immobilized twenty men and then attacked the marine basement victoriously in the Swatsea Kingdom.

"He's clearly nuts", she stated. In the end of the newspaper were the newest wanted posters. Trafalgar Law had a bounty of 40 000 000 belis. Also few revolutionaries had lifted their bounties over 100 000 000, but the other was in South Blue and the other in the New World so she didn't have high chances to meet them any time soon. Other pirates had been on a rampage too, it seemed – things had started changing, hopefully for the good. The second in command of the Five Star pirates had increased his bounty to 120 000 000 belis and the fourth in command had a bounty if 55 000 000 for now. It was like all common sense was forgotten on the Grand Line.

The painter woman had sailed for a four days and it was starting to get bored. She already finished the portraits on her sketchbook and the previous paintings were now laying on her bed getting dry. Mopping the whole room was out of question, because she didn't want to move the stuff out in case it would start raining or it got windy. She already practiced using every weapon she had. It was so boring she could actually try to cook something good, even though she disliked cooking greatly. Thinking about all the delicious possibilities she searched the recipe book she had. She could try out something new now that she had the time, but because she was still quite wary of possible storms she settled for the classic: pancakes. Everyone liked pancakes, right? At least she liked them and she seemed to have all the indgredients and some jam, too.

The room was all smokey after she was done, so she opened the windows. Aika blinked at the sight she was seeing – it was snowing. The lovely snowflakes had already covered the deck. The air definitively got cold too but she was used to it. After she ate few pancakes she put on her winter wear and headed out. There was just enough of snow to do a lantern out of snowballs. The candle inside of it lightened the ship beautifully. She saw her foggy breath leisurely float up in the air. The atmosphere was very peaceful – so peaceful she had to say that entering Grand line was worth it.

She saw an island on the fifth morning. It's weird shape intrigued her, so she started to paint immediately. Her paints soon froze much to her displeasure, so she gave up on it and focused on steering the Heart Cake safely to the harbor. As she neared the shore, people gathered on the harbor. She glanced at them trough her telescope. They did not look pleased.

"Who are you?" One of the men gathered on the shore shouted at her.

"Uh, I'm Lec Aika, nice to meet you!" Aika introduced herself politely. She was too low on supplies to try sail elsewhere. The men were still not accepting her on their island. Damn those wary rats, she cursed in her mind, not letting her smile waver. It's good to look kind.

"Are you a pirate?" He asked without commenting her answer.

"No, I have nothing to do with pirates", the painter lied with no remorse. Hadn't she just partied with them.

"I don't have a bounty of any kind", she added.

"Then what do you want!" They were getting very uneasy.

"I'm a painter, I would only like to get some supplies and paint a picture of your island", she explained the purpose of her trip. The men were gritting their teeth, they didn't want to let her stay, but they didn't want to be responsible if she happened to starve to death.

"Fine, we'll let you visit our island for the time your log pose needs to set", they finally agreed.

"Thank you very much", she bowed to them, before getting her nearly empty wallet and few knifes. She couldn't take the sword, that would make the islanders even more wary. Perhaps they wouldn't even let her on the island anymore if she showed them her weapons.

She was having a fine lunch at the eating place she found in the village, when some one barged in shouting something about a pirate making his way here. That made every one in the restaurant panic and run away, screaming like babies. Aika wondered if she should do the same, but the opportunity to eat everyone's meals sounded too tempting to bypass. The painter devoured her own meal like a hungry wolf before giddily jumping over the plate which looked extra delicious. Just when she was about to chomp it down the door opened. '_Aww shit!'_ The pirate just had to come to a mere restourant to disturb her happiness. Just her luck. There was no time to hide. The feared pirate came in, slamming the door while he hummed a song every man on the seas knew. She froze and stared at the door.

"Hi", the pirate leered around, noticing there was no one else around and started eating everything that was served at the buffet.

"Oh it's you, Ace. How did you end up here?" She relaxed and continued to eat. They were already party buddies so there was probably no need to be wary of him.

"Aika? Haven't you heard?" He asked, his face bemused.

"About what?" She asked curiously.

"And what's with that outfit? Last time I checked it was snowing outside." She continued. Mother always told her to dress up warmly.

"It's because of my devil fruit, I don't get cold", he said as he took a pot of meat stew and sat opposite of her.

"Thatch was killed the same night you left", He glared at Aika.

"What?" A big pause. "What do you mean, he was fine when I left!" She was bewildered, did Ace suspect her? There was no way she could've killed the fourth commander of the Whitebeard pirates, she was just a mere rookie. But if he did, she'd be in horribly in trouble. If pops wanted to gut her, he'd gut her with no remorse. How could she defend herself, if she didn't have any evidence?

"I don't know what happened, but we found him laying dead on the deck", Ace explained, looking carefully at her reactions in case she was lying.

"That can't be...! He did accompany me to my ship and he gave me your den den mushi number so I could call you... He even waved at me when I left, who could've..." She paused for a while.

"When will he be buried?" She asked. Color rushed back to her pale face, since she was feeling ashamed of her thoughts. Her first thought after hearing of one's death was just how to save her own skin. But the living come first, she reasoned herself. Perhaps this was somehow her fault? It couldn't be, she had nothing to do with this. Things were just fine when she left the Moby Dick.

"Actually the nurses are still trying to operate him, but they said his heart has already stopped, so there's no hope for him. I think his funerals will be shortly", he said.

"Who was it then?" Aika asked, wanting to make sure she wasn't the suspect. The question made Ace's face darken even more.

"It was a man from my division... Marshall D. Teach, who shot Thatch rough his heart. He also left the ship the same night", he trembled in rage.

"I'm sorry for your loss", was all she could say. She wanted to give him a hug but decided that a pat on the shoulder will do. There was a long silence between them.

"So, what are your plans for now?" Aika asked Ace, still wondering how he coped with the weather in that attire.

"I have heard that Teach is here on the Drum Kingdom. I think I'll check if he's there", He said, pointing at one of the high odd shaped mountains on the island.

"This is the Drum Kingdom?" The realization hit her. That's right, the mountains were like they were described in her book about the island. The climate fitted the description too, she was really stupid to not notice. That would mean Dr. Kureha is here too, as well her collection of books. Aika grinned madly, thinking about the amount of information she'd get if she only found those books...

"Can I come with you? I'm looking for Dr. Kureha who supposedly lives on this island... Have you ever heard of her?" She asked him. Getting to the mountain would be much easier with his help, even though she preferred doing things alone, there was no way she'd climb those steep mountainsides alone.

"Sure, why not", Ace agreed to wait while Aika got her stuff she called survival pack from her ship before their travel towards the mountain began.

They walked in silence trough the coniferous forest that reminded her of home. The winters back home were just as harsh as these, but the warm summers compensated it. She used to make big snow castles with Aslak when she was small. They were full of tunnels and slides, perfect for them to have fun by themselves when they had to hide from the navy and they couldn't go to the village to play with the kids. They were quite lucky to be born an an island so big and full of primeval forests that the government dogs couldn't find them.

Thinking about her brother Aika became a bit anxious. He was still presumably on the first part of the Grand Line, but if he made it into the New World, It'd be troublesome to get in contact. The death of Whitebeard's fourth commander must've haunted her thoughts, but she came to think that he could be dead and she might get to know it only after she returned home. The fact her death was much more likely didn't even cross her mind.

Ace heard something crunching under the snow in the distance. He stopped, making a sign to be quiet. Aika became alert. The voice came closer. The blonde silently unsheathed the Rogue Soul she brought along. There was definitively something moving under the snow. She clearly heard something digging it's way there, but she couldn't decide what it was. Ace was literally fired up, as his fist was now flaming. She looked at the fire hypnotized, it looked so unnatural to be in flames but still not burn. The snow was melting around him, steaming. The steam got her clothes so frosty they almost looked white.

The noise stopped all of the sudden, leaving them puzzled.

"What was that?" She asked, breaking the silence. It was a wrong move seemingly, since something big and white jumped out of the snow along with other white furballs just as big.

"Let's beat them!" Ace encouraged her when he noticed her staggering about attacking them or not.

"I don't know if we should-" The end of the sentence was cut of when one of the bunnyzillas jumped at her, claws in front. She lifted her sword like she was going numb. The adrenaline seemed not to be working yet. Before she got hit Ace punched the gigantobunny on the side his fist blazing – it was obvious where he got his nickname. The bunny's fur caught on fire and it had to back down. _'One down, about thirty to go'_, the painter commented negatively.

"Don't just laze around, the faster we get past these guys the better", Ace stirred her up. She glanced at the huge claws and the sharp teeth the bunnies had. '_Whatever, my sword is sharper anyway, and I need to train'_ she thought while charging a bunny with a scar across it's tummy.

Aika swang her sword at it, but the beast jumped over her head showing no sights of fear. It actually seemed to be mocking her. The smirk it had made the blonde angry, and anger made her more brave. She followed it's movements with grace as it was trying to scratch her. Just dodging wasn't effective, so she had to put more effort. Aika didn't want to use her special tactics just yet, because she needed to became physically stronger so no shaman tricks allowed. The painter jumped farther away from the best and tucked her legs to the snow. The bunny attacked her without thinking about it, so she collected her willpower and slashed it powerfully. The scarbunny took the hit and flew backwards.

Aika got no time to breath, because two of them attacked her at the same time. She hold her sturdiest stance and prepared to hit them. As she waved the sword, she warily noticed that the sword was a bit shorter than her older sword so the sword didn't hit the other bunny. The other got hit badly, but before Aika could slash the other it punched her hard. So hard she flew into a tree and laid down there for a while just to regain her breath and process what just happened. Before soon she was ready to join the battlefield with new found enthusiasm and will, even though Ace had beat most of them, she managed to hit few to the ground.

As the last bunny fell to the ground, defeated she crouched down, panting a lot.

"That went better than I expected", she said smiling satisfied. There was an awkward silence between them before Ace said.

"You're like... really slow and weak", he said truthfully what she thought about her fighting style. Aika felt gravely insulted to hear it, even if it was true.

"I'm not!" She snarled.

"You sure are. You should eat more meat and fight more", he convinced her easily.

"Well I guess I'm not much of a fighter", she admitted honestly, still feeling insulted though. She stood up and started wading trough the masses of snow.

"Then what are you doing on the Grand Line alone?"

"It's because I'm so stupid and I didn't think about it before it was too late", she decided to joke it off since the question was a bit too personal for her liking.

"You're not that stupid from what I've seen!" Ace cheered her up smiling charmingly.

"Thanks, I guess", Aika chuckled.

"What about you, aren't you originally from East Blue so how did you end up joining the Whitebeard pirates?" She tried the small talk she wasn't so good at.

"I always wanted to be a pirate. I left our home island before Luffy to begin my journey and somehow I ended up joining pops crew. I want to make him the pirate king... Which brought me to the question are you sure you don't want to join us?" He grinned.

"Pretty damn sure, if I would party like that every day I'd be soon dead... You know, alcohol kills" she grinned.

"Aww shame, though you did seem to enjoy the wine too much, especially in that truth or dare game you organized with Will", he said, laughing at the memory.

"I don't remember anything like that, did we really play truth or dare? What did I do?" Aika facepalmed blushing madly as the things she could have done rushed trough her head.

"If you can't remember, it's probably better if I don't tell", Ace continued to laugh. Aika let her blush fade before she continued on the matter:

"But I was saying that I actually don't want to join you because I like to be alone and I can't really stand any authorities, other than my parents", explained Aika.

"I get it", he nodded,"but why would you want to ally us then?"

"I was scared like hell when I saw Marco the Phoenix... Don't look at me like that, I'm a rookie I've got the right to be afraid! ...So I agreed to anything that would make me sound more like I'm basicly harmless... Except to join you, of course. But I don't regret! When I get a wanted poster the Whitebeard tattoo will scare the bounty hunters off... And It's kind of touching to see that you guys are like a family after all", the painter said, suddenly turning all serious.

"Yeah, that's what we are", widely smiling Ace said.

Aika's disbelief grew as they neared the mountain. How was she supposed to climb an icy upright mountain? Ace didn't show any signs of stopping which made her even nervous. How did he think they'd get up there? She barely saw the top.

"How do you think we'll get there?" She wondered aloud, wishing he had some good ideas. Ace thought for a while, holding his chin with his hand.

"Like this!" An idea struck him and he slammed his leg into the icy wall. When the fire fist was sure his foot was solidly stuck in the ice he whacked his hand in to the ice a lot higher, following with his other limbs.

"Try it, it's really easy!" He was crawling upwards on the wall. Aika sweatdropped majorly. How the heck was she supposed to do that? Only bugs could climb anything as steer as that mountain... And Ace apparently. She sighed, wondering if she could use her knifes as stepping stones. Aika stuck them into the ice and climbed on them trying to catch Ace, who was advancing with speed.

"Wait for me!" the weaker of the two groaned, afraid of falling.


	5. The Copycat

They had been climbing for some time, but it felt like years for the both of them. Ace was just bored for waiting her, but Aika was seemingly exhausted from repeating the same moves continuously. They weren't even in the midst yet. The painter took the lowest knife and stabbed it higher again and again, until it seemed not to get stuck anymore. She cursed the island and tried harder, but the knife just pinged on the surface and kept slipping. Eying the ice made her surprised, there was a metal plank beneath the layer of ice. If she just hit higher, she'll past the thing. She collected her will and smashed her knife into the ice.

Ace was twenty meters higher than Aika as he heard something crumble and crash. The firefist took a look over his shoulder to see large masses of snow and ice fall down to the ground from the spot Aika had been.

"Aika?" The pirate called her. Before he could freak out he saw a hand waving to him.

"I found a cave! Care to have a look?" She peeked from the cave's entrance where she lunged when the ice broke down. Shamefully she lost one of her knifes for the crash.

"Don't scare me like that!" Ace scolder her as he entered the cave. His scolding went unnoticed because Aika focused on finding her matches and the lantern she had in her survival pack for these kind of situations.

The lantern as their light they walked deeper into the mountain. The aisle was quite narrow, but still easy to walk in. After few minutes they came into a spacious hall.

"This is not a cave made by nature, this has been dug out by people", Ace stated when he got to see the symmetrical shape of the cave.

"Way to go, captain obvious", Aika muttered. She had made her way further.

"I found a door!" She announced trying to open it.

"It must be frozen", she told him apologetically.

"Let me show you how to open a door, if you can't do it yourself", Ace sighed at her weakness. He lit his hand in flames and started to heat the door knob.

"Oops", he said, when the knob which had apparently been wood turned to ashes in his hand. They looked at the dust that had been the door's handle, feeling quite stupid.

"...Show me what?" Aika jested enjoying his misfortune. Ace hesitated for a while. But his ego was too hurt, so he decided to show the true power of a Whitebeard commander to the girl who was grinning like a cheshire cat.

"I was just about to show you this!" He punched the door with his whole hand ablaze. Aika wasn't quite sure, if it was his hand that hit the door, or the ball of flames which blew it off of it's hinges, since she had to cover her eyes. The flames were too bright for her. The pressure threw her on her back, so the painter had to lay down to regain breath.

"Okay, okay, I got it!" said Aika, impressed by his powers once again.

"Oh great, they've got stairs going up in here! We'll get on the top much faster with these!" He started running and she couldn't help but dash after him.

Dr. Kureha was not especially pleased to have guests, they figured out when she had thrown many kinds of sharp weapons towards them. Charismatic Ace managed to calm her down and now they were all having tea together – Aika, the painter newbie, the Fire fist Ace, the Drum Islands only self reliant doctor Kureha and her apprentice... reindeer, Tony Tony Chopper. It seemed unreal for them to casually drink tea, but it had worked out for now. No flying objects around at least.

"You said you're looking for a man named Blackbeard, young man", she started the conversation.

"That's right", Ace nodded.

"Indeed, The Blackbeard pirates have been here, but he just left few days ago", she told him. Ace stood up, getting fired up.

"Do you know where he went?"

"They sailed towards east", she answered shortly.

"I'll make my leave then. I want to hunt him down as fast as possible", he gulped down his tea and went to the door.

"It was very nice to travel with you, Ace! In case we won't see again for a while, I wish you good luck!" Aika gave him thumbs up.

"The same for you", he smiled at her.

"NOT SO FAST!" Dr. Kureha shout, but Ace fleed faster than her weapons flew.

"How about you? What brings you here?" Kureha stared at her intensively. She was back from chasing Ace.

"I've heard that you hold a massive amount of patient documents of the Drum Kingdom. I would like to have a look at them", Aika went straight into the business.

"I'll let you have a look at them, but it won't be for free."

Aika had copied documents and books for a week, ran from flying sharp objects, cooked and cleaned around the castle, but now she was finally finished. The last sentence – then she heard an odd voice from the roof. Forgetting about the voice, she finished the sentence grinning evilly. She was supposed to be here for another week to pay for the information she had been handed, but she decided to make her escape about now. The young woman had her stuff packed in her backpack which was now full of copied text.

"Buhahahahahaahaa!" She let out an evil laugh.

The copycat Aika exited the room and run along the corridor, hoping to not get lost. It was suspectingly quiet, but then something swiped her off her feet. She thudded into a sled leaded by Chopper the reindeer she had got to know among the weeks. He was actually like a little, innocent boy who needed a friend – though the mix of a boy and a reindeer was still quite creepy.

"Why're you in such a hurry?" She grumped as she sat up.

"Sorry Aika! I'm leaving the island because I'm going to be a pirate!" The reindeer monster sniffed.

"With who-" She was about to ask, but they were already outside of castle. She saw Kureha, who was about to throw something sharp at them once again. Chopper dodged them easily, he was experienced, and shouted for a bunch of guys she hadn't seen before to get on. So they did and the sled got very full.

"Uh, hi?" Aika awkwardly greeted them.

"Who are you?" They said in unison, surprised.

"I'm Aika, but who are you guys?" She wondered. The boy with the strawhat introduced herself first.

"I'm Luffy and I'm going to be the pirate king!" He chuckled merrily.

"Oh, really?" Aika sweatdropped at his sureness. Was he really the guy with such a big bounty? Looks may fool, though.

"Yeah! I'm going to find the One Piece first!" He explained with enthusiasm. He was cut off by a blonde man though.

"Aika-chan! I have waited for a woman like you all my life, please let me marry you! I, Sanji, will always be your faithful lover!" the man's eyes were filled with hearts and he showed an incredible amount of admiring someone he didn't even know.

_'A ladies man, indeed!' _Aika thought when her personal space was disturbed by the man when he kissed her hand. Underneath the antisocial embarrassment she did feel flattered.

"Uh huh, I think I'll have to think about it longer", she declined quickly. This was a weird group of people, but she got to know them better as they traveled downwards as the dark blue sky changed into a pretty shade of pink.

"Good bye Strawhats! Hope to see you again!" She waved enthusiastically at them, seeing some of them wave at her too, especially Sanji, the blonde man who asked her to marry him. The girl named Vivi waved at her kindly too. Then there was the captain of the crew who was probably the most childish one too.

"Bye bye Aika! Next time we see, let's have a party together!" He shouted, only to be punched by his fellow crewmate.

"Stupid! You barely know her!"

"Sure! I hope to meet you soon!" She shouted back anyway. They were such a nice crew, very family like. The black haired captain also reminded her of something.

The log pose had turned towards a new direction, and she was already very far away from the Going Merry when it hit her – that strawhat must've been Ace's brother. Oh well, it was too late for that. She also came to remember that she was supposed to get that den den mushi... Well, on the next island, then.

A portrait of Ace was laying on her bed, waiting to dry up. It had been hard to get those freckles on their place, but with a help of a wanted poster they settled on their places just fine. The most difficult thing was actually to paint his smile, but after hours of work the charming smile was now plastered on it. She shivered slightly at the cold. The temperature was now over 15 degrees celsius, but last night when she came back to her ship it was unbearable. It had still been somewhere around 5 degrees so she had to sleep in her sleeping bag which was quite uncomfortable. She would've liked to have a hot shower in the morning, but only cold water came out, so she had to be satisfied with warm cocoa only. Cocoa was great though, so no complaints about that.

As the day turned into the night Aika arrived on another island. It was about time – her sketchbook was already filled, she only had few canvases left and she was also running out of paper because of the amount spent for copying documents. She had actually gone trough the copies and she found a few names that interested her:  
Lec Janra (A possible relative?)  
Randy Shandy (Sounded hilarious)  
Mercury Harry (Heard the name before)  
Foe James (Sounded familiar)  
J.K. William (Suspicious to not tell your surname!)  
There were others too, but these were the ones she could focus on now. Maybe this island had a library.


	6. For Liberty!

She anchored her ship and packed her survival pack ready for the adventure on the island. There was a large statue in the harbor holding a lantern which she went to study more. There was a plate in it's stand which read _FOR LIBERTY. _She looked at the sight, puzzled if it's meaning. It didn't hold her interest for long, because she came to think of that library. She had the names written on a note to keep her from forgetting them.

"Excuse me, do you happen to know if there's a library in here somewhere?" blushing slightly she asked from a stranger.

"None of my business", the woman gritted and looked at her angrily before stomping away. _'What's with her?'_ The painter thought before asking another one.

"Sorry, do you know if there's a library in this town?" She asked a man who didn't seem to be in bad mood at the moment.

"I'm not from here, so I don't know, sorry", he said smiling politely.

"It's alright!" She waved it off and walked along the streets to try again in a different place.

"Excuse me, do you know if there's a library in this town?" She asked putting on the politest smile she could.

"I don't know and I don't care", The man grumbled and walked away quickly.

_'There's something wrong with these people...'_ She was utterly confused of the way the people acted. She tried to ask around a few times, but the reactions were the same wherever she went in the town, so she gave up for now.

When she was aimlessly wandering around the town wishing to find a library she spotted a shop selling den den mushis. The painter was immediately interested and walked in.

"Hi!" The young seller boy greeted her with eagerness. It was kind of cute.

"Hi, I would like to adopt a long range den den mushi", she went to the desk.

"A regular one? I'm afraid to tell you I just sold the last one, but we have 4 baby den den mushis -"

"I'm not interested, thank you for your time though", the seller was cut off by her. She left the store, pinching the bridge of her nose to calm down. She was pissed off – why didn't they have long range ones now that she remembered to get one! Damn those snails. On the next island she'd probably forget them again.

Aika was still feeling like shopping so she put her money on the canvases she needed and she also bought a new yellow sketchbook. The color was so bright it cheered her up just by being so vivid. It also had a good quality paper, which made her decision very easy even if there was plenty of options. It was kind of expensive though, so she'd need to steal money or work for it on the next island.

Along her way to home she bought snacks and island's official newspaper, _Apple News _coming from the island's name. According to her book of maps the island's name was Apple Island because it reminded an apple if looked from the above. That was probably just bullshit, as the island was actually round like a circle, making it remind more of a tangerine or bubble... There were endless amount off options. The log pose would need just a day to get ready. It was nice to have a little knowledge of the island she had arrived, the maps book knew nothing about the former ones. The Apple Island was the definition of well-being, wealthy and democratic island, so it was the perfect time to read. It really seemed to be much more exciting than searching the island for something interesting.

She got on the Heart Cake and brought a table and a chair to read in the sunlight with a cup of cocoa. She sipped the cold drink while studying the statue with mild interest. Who needed a statue like that in a harbor? Wasn't it on the way when ships unloaded? What was it's point anyway? It became obvious she couldn't find the answers by herself so she gave up and started reading the news.

The biggest article was about how a native islander had became a lieutenant commander, and then he had got one of the Great Grade Swords from the pirates. He and his colleague where about to give it to Commodore Stocke. As the magazine described the sword, Aika grew more interested about it. It would be a perfect gift for the Whitebeard Pirates, making them not regret the alliance at all. If they even remembered anything about it anyway... She could get a lot of money from selling the sword, too. The beli marks gleamed in her dark eyes. She wouldn't need to work for a while, if she just stole it from them... It was worth a thought, but she'd need to find the damn library first.

The way people acted was peculiar. If they didn't have a library on the town, they could've just said it. Maybe they were ashamed that such a fine town did not have one? No way, that would be such a stupid reason to be so secretive of. A real mystery, Aika smirked. She kind of liked mysteries, especially when they were solved.

When the sun set, she awoke from planning her mission get-the-sword. It was getting really gloomy outside, with the moon rising onto the sky. It casted a ghostly light on the island, making it look very creepy instead of the magical feel it usually created. It was far from those winter nights at home with the moon as the only lights source. She had enjoyed moonlight at home, but here it just made her feel sickly.

The air also cooled quickly, making her withdraw to the insides of the Heart Cake.

The painter's ship had became more like a home she could have ever thought. Aika came to know which planks creaked when she stepped on them, she also recognized the voice the front door made when the door was locked and how did the door to the boiler room open the easiest way, since it had been bent so didn't move easily to any direction. She new perfectly how to move around in the ship even if it was dark. Heart Cake was filled with the things she brought from home. She even had some evergreen flowers which made the ship smell like her home island. Somehow the ship felt very safe, even if the troubles she had faced on the seas with it.

She blonde made her way into the bathroom and had her regular warm shower before going to bed. The pouring water relaxed her muscles with ease. She had a look at her bruises and scratches she got from the Drum Island because of the rough ride to the shore with too many people in the same sled. They looked okay, no treatment needed. She put on the moisturizer she used for her dry skin and exited the steamy bathroom.

From the moment she stepped outside, she got a feeling that something was out of usual. Something had changed in the air. The painter looked around, suspecting something bad to happen. She warily put on some comfy clothes she could sleep in, before checking the deck for any unwanted visitors. There weren't any place for them to hide in inside the ship, because the boiler room's door made such a voice if moved she'd hear it even if she was showering and the room had no space.

The front door wasn't locked, it seemed. She must have forgot, which made her feel worse. Anyone in could have entered the ship. Holding tightly a knife she opened the door with loud slam. There was no one around, but in front of the bar there seemed to be lot's of drunks yelling something. She sighed, it was just her imagination playing pranks on her. The feeling did not go away though, so she securely locked the door and checked the boiler room for possible guests before falling asleep.

In the sunlight the town looked just as welcoming as before, but the mystery library still troubled her thoughts. She decided to look for it until the midday when she could plan how to steal the sword. Taking her survival pack she locked the door and passed the statue. If she already had asked from so many living in the city, maybe it was worth trying to ask people from countryside. If that wouldn't work, she'd just have to walk all way to the other village, Peipy as her map book named it. She wouldn't give up before she knew about the damn libraries.

The painter came to a wall made of bricks which seemed to separate the town from the countryside. They looked perfect for making graffities, but she guessed the citizens wouldn't like her a lot after that. The reason for the roughly about two metres high wall made her baffled. Why would the city need such protection? Were there dangerous animals or criminals in there? Though of any possible dangers ahead didn't make her stop, in fact she was even more interested to solve this mystery for once.

She walked along the wall a while before finding an entrance. She got to walk for a while before someone called for her.

"Excuse me! Do you know where's the Applian Library?" A man patted her shoulder. He had curly light brown hair and an intense stare, making Aika feel uncomfortable. He had a companion too. He had dark brown hair on a long ponytail reaching his back and his skin was just a shade lighter than his hair. They wouldn't have stood out at all with their plain clothes, if they didn't have weapons. The man addressing her had two very long swords on his back and the other had a pistol hanging from his leather belt.

"I'm sorry, but I have to tell you I'm actually trying hard to find it too", Aika told him with a polite smile.

"You are? Well we could search for it together, don't you think?"

"Sure, why not", she agreed, desperate to find the mystery library, even though the guys looked suspicious. Citizens rarely had pistols or swords with them.

"Shouldn't I introduce myself. I'm Rey Lagahn, and this is Magnus", the swordsman said.

"I'm Aika", she said and they shook hands quickly, wasting no time.

"I have heard there's a library in the village not far from here. We should probably go there first, but I've got no idea where the village of Dapple Hay is", he sighed, scratching the back of his head. His curly hair made him look somewhat innocent, like an amor with the skill to make people fall in love.

"Dapple Hay? It think I've seen it on my map", Aika crunched down to pull out the map from the bag. The book finally proved to be uselful.

"It's the way that goes to the east from here", she told them after having a look at the roads leading away from the town.

"Great! Shall we travel with you? I could use some company, since Magnus is playing mute again", he sighed looking at the man next to him meaningfully.

"I'm not", Magnus surprised them by talking.

"You sure were for the last five hours", Lagahn muttered.

Aika agreed to walk with them, since looking for something was much more easier with extra pairs of eyes. The pair also seemed interesting to observe. Their communication seemed to work in cycles – at first, they we're both quiet, and then Lagahn started talking with new found passion of anything that came to his mind, and then Magnus commented shortly. Then the pair was quiet until Lagahn started again. She chuckled at their odd habits in her mind, looking at her surroundings. The road pierced trough a thick forest, where they could only hear the birds singing. The woman inhaled deeply. The air was refreshingly different from the salty wind on the seas.

Forest turned into fields as they neared the village of Dapple Hay. Dapple Hay – according to her book of the islands on Grand Line – had got it's strange name of it's dappled horses and of course the hay they fed to them. Magnus had already spotted the first building, but there was no horses around even if they were said to pasture free around the farming village.

_'Shame, I would've liked to see some horses'_, the painter was disappointed. She liked horses much and her family used to have one. Painting horses was also one of her favorite ways to spend time in the past. Actually she had a few horse paintings on her wall too.

It seemed that Lagahn leaded their way towards the center of the village, so Aika didn't ask anything about their direction. They went past many houses whose paints had started to peel off. The children who had just been playing on the street were now staring at them curiously behind their hedges. When she glanced at them, they turned their heads away almost like they were scared of the stranger's rushing in their home streets. It was probably logical to be wary of them, as they held scary weapons.

There were five buildings on the village's main street, but most show windows were empty and dusty. For some unknown reason the town hall had no entrance. There was only a charred hole in the wall were it was supposed to be. Aika assumed it was blown off. Some windows were smashed here and there, too. There was no one on the road and it seemed the kids had vanished somewhere. Only the wind which seemed to have gained strength every moment whirled the grit around. The sinister moment made the painter keep her right hand very close to her sword, just in case something happened.

"That's the library! We're a bit late but I hope they don't mind", Lagahn stated and hurried to the library which was still in a good shape compared to the other buildings. He was followed by the other two, Magnus and Aika who were not bothered to rush. When they got to the door Magnus knocked loudly on the wooden door.

First there was no sounds of anyone inside coming to the door, so he was about to knock again. At the moment the door opened creaking slightly. It revealed a short, black haired woman who welcomed them happily inside. He wore neutral colored, baggy clothes to hide her thin, skeleton-like body. She seemed stressed and tired, but there was a peculiar fire burning in her eyes.

"It's pleasant to have you here, Lagahn and Magnus!" She said, leading their way deeper into the library. The men left their backpacks in the hallway, so she followed their example and let grudgingly her survival pack on the floor.

"But who is this?" The black haired woman asked them, making them turn towards Aika with incredulous expressions. The blonde felt her heart make an additional sound.

"What? I thought you were a revolutionary!" Lagahn stuttered with disbelief.

"No wonder I've never heard yer name", Magnus said.

_'Revolutionaries, this soon? This is a great opportunity to get to know them! Ooh, I'm so excited!'_ She smiled widely.

"I came here to meet the revolutionaries, possibly to join them in their activity", she bowed them respectively. The revolutionaries thought it for a second.

"You're welcome in here, dear. Have a cup of tea before we inform you about our next ambition on the island", she shook hands with Aika as a sign of acceptance.

"My name is Cesil, I'm the leader of the rebellion here on Apple Island. Magnus and Lagahn are revolutionaries, but they're not the only official revolutionaries here. No wonder though, since this deprivation is maintained by the World Government, it really picked the revolutionaries interest", she kept talking as Aika poured tea for herself and followed them into the small main hall the people had gathered.

"Every one! This is... What was your name again?" Cesil raised her voice, silencing the chatting in the room.

"My name is Lec Aika, I'mfrom the North Blue", she introduced herself shortly to the audience.

"Well then, I guess you don't mind telling your names to our guest?" The rebellion leader asked the group.

"Fine... I'm August, I'll be the one having a speech on the Freedom Square in the Liberty City", the man with blue tinted hair was first to tell his name.

"Sero T. Nine, I'll go into the city of Golden Apple to give a speech for the citizens", The man next to August told after him.

"I'm Sufu. I'm the one who's responsible for the explosives", he said grinning proudly.

"My name's Offey Jane, and these are Jerry and Pecky. We've got Lagahns back when he attacks the navy base to hold them for a while as we make this coup d'état happen", a lanky woman said her and the men's names who were sitting next to her.

"Terres Franc would be me. I'll go into one of the villages in the west with my friends", the bearded man stated.

"Hello, I'm Ramentum Pedro. My crew will take care of the villages in north", he said confidently.

"Thank you. Our plan is to takeover the Island and let the civilians build their democracy themselves, without the World Government to interfere. We have also decided to watch over them for a while so they get to build their defenses against the Government. After we're sure that Apple Island is in a stable state, we'll start with the neighbour island, so they can unite their forces against the Government.  
The Apple Island has been in control of them and the bankers who'll kindly sell all the minerals and other natural resources to any one who pays enough. They don't care how much the mining pollutes the island nor that the resources belong to the natives who don't get any benefit from the mines at the moment. Also, we rebels can't accept the class society we've been forced into." Cesil had to breathe for a while, she was getting too fired up.

"In two hours, August will start his speech in the Freedom Square with Magnus, when Sufu with his men will go into the prison and free the political prisoners locked in there. Franc, Pedro and Nine will agite the civilians to rebel in their regions, while Lagahn, Jane, Jerry, Pecky with their fellow companions will raid the navy base and preferably banish them. Would you like to join with someone on their mission?" She asked turning to Aika. The blonde's eyed were turning into beli marks when she thought of the marine base, which hold the great grade sword.

"Sure, I would like to go with Lagahn", she said smiling at the man with angelic curls.

"It's decided then. Let's get ready!" The skeleton woman clapped her hands hurrying the people. They left the library behind and headed to the barn near by. It looked fine, but the door was crooked and it hanged only from one hinge. They would ride on horses closer to the marine fort.


	7. Dappled horses

Aika looked at the dappled horses who were munching hay, not really caring about the guests. Her dark eyes were sparkling with joy. She got to see the famous dappled horses of the Dappled Hay! They had such beautiful color that her hands were shaking from the want to paint them immediately. She was a true fan of horses.

She got to choose one horse she'd ride on closer to the navy base. She chose the one with gentle, brown eyes and pure white mane. Cesil showed her, where were the horse's saddle and bridle. She was soon ready to leave, but she wanted to keep on petting and hugging the horse who was not so sure if it was liking the attention.

"What's it's name?" The painter asked Cesil, who seemed to know the horses well enough.

"Oh, that's Pancho. He's very calm and charming, so rest assured!" She answered before leaving the barn. The other rebellions had left already too, when the last group were getting ready to ride.

Adding Nelly, Ragnar, Hamnia, Led and Fargus there were now ten of them. Aika wasn't worried about their strength though, since Lagahn was a revolutionary he had to be something real strong. They made their way trough the forests, trotting with relaxed pace. They were still getting faster than by foot anyway.

"Pancho Sancho, aren't you such a handsome horse, are you! You're so amazingly silver colored. You're like quicksilver, with such lovely movements! You're so cute and dazzling, you lovely little pony! I love you so much, why don't you come to my ship and go on an adventure with me!" She kept on babbling to the horse the whole way.

Lagahn was the first to dismount. He hopped off his horse's, Dorotea's back and tied the reins so they wouldn't drop and Dorotea wouldn't accidentally step on them and hurt her mouth. The other followed his example, and petted the horses on their necks. Then they were free to go home.

"Isn't it risky to let them wander on their own? What if they don't go home?" Aika asked waving at Pancho who was sauntering away from them. She'd miss the horse, it was such a wonderful pony...

"They're taught to go home when they get free and they have bridles on. Otherwise they're free to slouch around", Jane explained her.

"I see, that's quite handy. But what if the rider just falls off? Do they run home?" The painter asked curiously. These horses were smart, which made Pancho seem even more magical in her eyes.

"No, they'll usually wait for the rider. When we pat them on the neck it's a sign for them that they're free to go home", She answered.

"That's so cool! Can they travel on board?" She asked, wishing that if she ever got a ship big enough she would bring two of these dappled horses home.

"What, are you going to steal them?" Jane laughed at the blonde's enthusiasm.

"No, but I would love to buy few when I go back home", She giggled at the thought of horses on her ship. It would be pretty cramped inside...

"Sure they can, but they don't enjoy it at all, so we sell foals only to our neighbor islands and locals.

"A shame", Aika's smile turned into a pout. Life was certainly unfair sometimes. Luckily all horses were beautiful, so she wouldn't suffer much from this loss. Her eyes did get uncharacteristically wet from the thought she possibly wouldn't ever see Pancho again. It was odd, since she wasn't the kind to express sadness visibly, but it was exactly like Cesil said – the horse was miraculously charming.

They continued to sneak closer to the navy base trough the thick forest. There was leaves tackled in her hair, even though she kept it on the ponytail. She sighed, there would be lots of brushing her hair after this. She felt disgusted of the spider webs tangled in her hands, this was definitively not the kind of forest she liked.

Lagahn, who was in front of the line, stopped making Jerry who was behind him crash to his back.

"Damn it, you could warn before you stop..." He muttered holding his nose which hurt from the impact. Lagahn ignored him with ease.

"Me and Aika will go inside and bomb the place. When you hear the explosion please come help us. It read in the news that the Commodore Stocke will also be here, so I'll be busy with him. I hope you can handle the lieutenants and the rest", he lowered his voice. It'd be better not to bee spotted yet.

"Is it clear?" He asked, making sure no one was about to retreat now. They all nodded with worried faces, but they couldn't stop now since the others were relaying on their capability to make the marine officers withdraw from the island.

Aika followed Lagahn obediently to the marine fort's garden. The formal entrance was probably in opposite side, but in here in the backyard there was a luxurious garden with carved fountains. There were a countless amount of different kind of flowers, which smelled like heaven. Lot's of benches lied beside the paved footpaths. There were tens of trees blooming with pink flowers. She had never seen something like this, so she could do nothing but grudgingly respect the navy's style of designing gardens.

There wasn't much time to admire the garden since they had to enter the building quickly, before they were noticed. They climbed on a balcony since the door downstairs was locked. The door on the balcony seemed to be locked, but Lagahn wasted no time on finding another door so he just picked the lock. It opened so he peeked inside. The stairway seemed empty, but he heard steps and backed to the balcony.

When the voice had begone, he bravely walked in. Aika did so too, but much more nervously.

They then run silently down the stairs, since the bomb had to be set up there according to their plans. Lagahn knew nothing of explosives so he just had to trust the instructions Sufu gave him. The corridor on the ground floor was empty too but time was not to be wasted. Lagahn set the bomb behind a pillar next to the wall. It wouldn't be noticed from there. Aika leered around, her heart was beating abnormally of the tension.

"Right, it's ready. Let's get away from it and cause havoc", Lagahn suggested when the numbers started rolling on the bomb's screen.

"Sure", she said and rushed after Lagahn who run towards the entrance hall where the sword would be given away.

They didn't get very far when the bombshell went off. The blast wave made Aika fall to her knees, but it had very little effect on Lagahn. However, the sirens went on and marines rushed from their rooms in the hallways. The worst off all, the enormous doors to the hall slammed open, revealing the festive occasion of the navies.

Aika got up slowly, unsheathing her sword at the process. The situation looked bad for her, since they were surrounded by tens of militarists excluding those who were in the hall or didn't fit to the corridors and hallways. She had no other choice but trust Lagahn to take care of the big guys.

Her only ally in the building at the moment unsheathed his twin swords with grace. His lips were in a straight line and brows were furrowed in concentrated look.

The native lieutenant stepped towards them from the hall.

"And who might you be?" The man demanded to know, seemingly angry. He looked like our stereotypical treacherous guy with black hair sleeked back with hair gel. The commodore Stocke stepped beside him with very little interest.

"If it isn't the applian rebels, I'll give up on my position in the navy", he said yawning. Even though he seemed not to be angry, the painter got terrifying vibes from the man. The lieutenant commander who came with Stocke had large sunglasses, shadowing his emotions. He seemed very stiff and annoyed by them. No wonder though, they had just sneaked in and blew the back off their fort off. Well, it was their own fault for thinking there wouldn't be any resistance.

"Indeed, we are rebels", Lagahn stated the obvious with a mad smile forming into his lips.  
"But I'm actually from the New World", he continued humorously.  
"To be honest, I'm not from around here either", Aika stated.

"Well then, you will end up in the same place... I assure you you'll be spending the rest of your life in prison. In the Impel Down!" Stocke laughed before he charged at Lagahn with incredible speed. His weapon of choice looked like a small scythe, but it was connected to a long chain.

Lagahn dodged him with his swords, but Aika jumped aside not to get in between the impact. She only got into a fight with the marines surrounding them, but she could keep up with them.

That was before the lieutenants joined the fight. They seemed to not care about her as an opponent so they attacked Lagahn instead, but he was not capable to fight three opponents at once. That's why when he dodged the lieutenants he got hit by the commodore in the stomach, making him fly to one of the pillars. The pillar crumbled from the impact.

"Lagahn!" Aika gasped and made her way towards the man kicking and slashing everyone on her way. She crouched down to check his pulse, but it wasn't necessary since he started coughing blood. Not much, but it was enough to prove that he got some serious damage, but at least he was alive.

Stocke spin his scythe like a circular saw, getting closer to them with every step. The other marines got closer too, step by step when they saw the man was down for now. Aika gritted her teeth swearing loudly in her mind. She stood up proudly, ready for the attack.

The commodore finally attacked, intending to finish them both. The painter raised her sword. Rogue Soul glimmered when the light hit it's blade. She didn't want to use all her energy, because if she did she'd be helpless in a place with probably over hundred marines.

She focused her to her heartbeat and fastened it enough to double her speed. If she took Stocke's hit without some cheats she'd fly high... Literally.

The blades clashed, making sparks fly around. She managed to make Stocke waver, but didn't do any damage. _'Shit! It's such a waste to hasten my heart beat for nothing! I'm going to feel so awful after I'm done with here and the adrenaline rate starts to lower... Jane and the others better be here soon'_, Aika got frustrated. She let the beat slow down. The headache started soon after that.

The marines now attacked them unison, but Lagahn had gotten up, twirling the swords with fast pace around him. He wiped the blood from his face, angered from getting hit.

"I'm fine now, thanks", he said, nodding at Aika who looked at the man worried.

"Great, let's get some beating done then", she said, slashing two marines at once.

"I'll take care of that Commodore and the sleazy guy, you take care of the sunglasses dude", he suggested while dodging the scythe and striking a marine getting too close to them.

"Works with me", she agreed panting, though it wasn't working with her at all. She felt too tired already. The Commodore and the native lieutenant were already fighting Lagahn making him have a hard time. Aika grasped a knife from her pocket and threw it at the sunglasses, missing him with inches only, but it really got the guy's attention. The other marines made him way when he stomped towards her with his sword in position. She had to kick one of the marines in the balls before she could attack her opponent.

She was just about to make her heart pump the blood faster, but someone grasped neck from behind. She struggled to get free, but she pure strength was never one of her best points.

"Great, Mr. Olaf, don't let her go. I'll finish her", the man said and struck her.


	8. Traffic On The Dance Floor

What happened last time:

Aika was just about to make her heart pump the blood faster, but someone grasped neck from behind. She struggled to get free, but she pure strength was never one of her best points.

"Great, Mr. Olaf, don't let her go. I'll finish her", the man said and struck her.

The blade's point was just an inch away from her chest when a lash pulled it backwards.

"Oi, not so fast boy!" Jane shouted from the entrance. She pulled her prod fiercely, making the sword fall from the man's hands.

"Sorry we're late, Lagahn. The marines attacked us from behind in the forest, so I left the rest fighting there", she said.

"Commodore Stocke! That's Offey Jane, the rebel who managed to escape us last week!" The lieutenant with sleeked hair reported.

"Is that so?" Stocke wasn't surprised at all.

"Yeah, that would be me", she giggled, swinging her whip around making every marine on ten meter radius fall on their backs. At the same moment Aika had struggled free and stabbed the guy on his shoulder.

"Aika! I'll take on Mr. Levyth, since we've met before", Jane asked while pointing at the sun glasses guy.

"Sure!" She was relieved, since she was getting too tired to even handle these low level marines. She wanted to help Lagahn though, who seemed to be having hard time fighting two officers and the weaker ones too.

Aika gathered her strength once again and jumped on a tall marine, from where she leaped towards the native marine officer who didn't have any bladed weapon. The man wasn't wary of this attack and he got hit in the face by Aika's foot. Her victorious moment didn't last for long, when she got hit by the scythe in her left hand. Lucky for her she was right handed, but the thought didn't help much when it hurt like hell. The bleeding was dangerously fast. She dodged few weapons reaching for her, pressing the wound with her hand tightly.

"Knock knock", a man at the door said loudly when he barged in.

"What's this? More unwanted guests?" The commodore sighed.

"Isn't that the Surgeon of Death, a pirate rookie?" Jane asked glancing at the man quickly before continuing to whip around the glasses guy.

"It seems we're late from the party", the hatted man smirked at the sight. The marines would be defeated quicker when there were other people fighting them, making it faster for the pirates to get the sword and the treasures hid in the fort. It was a shame they didn't get to test their skills though.

"You sure are, but I guess we don't mind! We'll send you to Impel Down with these guys with pleasure!" The commodore laughed loudly. The pirate captain ignored the threat and created the blue sphere around him.

"I'm sorry, but there's a bit too much traffic on the dance floor", he stated before immobilizing all the marines in his radius. At the same time sunglasses guy showed his devil fruit abilities, which was turning into a zebra hybrid of some kind. Aika had to change her mind that all horse related animals weren't pretty.

She sneaked off the battle, which was in a great chaos. Jane and Lagahn who had got some great damage fought with the zebra hybrid, while the pirate captain who Aika recognized from before fought with the commodore. The other pirates took care of the rest, so it was a perfect chance for her to steal the Great Grade sword. Beli marks twinkled in her eyes as she thought of all the cool stuff she could buy.

She stopped her searching for a while the bandage the wound on her shoulder, survival pack was needed once again. It hurt like hell, but the bleeding had got slower already. She then continued to search on the empty corridors. She checked every door, but it seemed there was only the men's bedrooms in this corridor, so she skipped few doors before checking the last one. On the door was written Lieutenant Commander Appleside, but there was no sword in the room so she just had to carry on.

The corridors seemed endless as she started to get dizzy. Her shoulder was throbbing badly, not to mention the horrible headache. She had to sneak into the upper floor, since she couldn't find anything interesting. Would she really have to search tho whole building before finding the sword?

At the third hallway she spotted an officer walking towards her, or more like the marine spotted her. No word was said when the man attacked her. She didn't have any time to react, so she got hit on the stomach hard and she flew to the wall hitting her head. Aika grimaced at the pain. She understood, that the man was definitively too strong for her to fight fairly, so she used her plan B.

"Youngsters these days..." The man spoke up, walking next to her when he noticed that she made no attempt to get up.

"...They think they can do anything...", he continued and kicked her in the ribs. She whimpered out put didn't move any way.

"...Even though they're weaker than I was when I was their age!" He kicked again, with more force, but this time the blonde made no sound. Assuming she had blacked out, the man crouched down to check her pulse. Once, twice it beat, before the heart of Lec Aika stopped completely.

"Good thing I hid that sword in room 352, It would've been found from the Appleside's room very fast." The older man kept on murmuring how weak the kids were these days when he walked away from Aika's body.

The rebels' allies had arrived to the fight, but both sides were still very even. The Heart pirates were doing pretty good though.

"Mr. Appleside! Care to explain?" The old man getting down the stairs roared.

"Ca-ca-captain!" Sleeked hair guy became terrified. The fighting stopped for a while since they were all too curious for the captain.

"I'm sorry, captain, but the Heart pirates and the rebels are putting up quite a resistance", he tried to calm the captain down.

"Nonsense! This trash should have been dealed with already! Besides, you left the sword unwatched! There was already a woman who was possibly going to steal it. You're putting me in shame!"

"I'm very sorry, captain", was all the lieutenant commander could say.

"Commodore Stocke! I'm also very disappointed in you abilities. You should have beat that rookie already!" He pointed at Trafalgar, who clearly was not amused at the fact he was looked down to.

"Wait. What happened to the woman trying to steal the sword?" Lagahn butted in.

"She'd dead for good! I personally checked that her heart stopped!" The man was seemingly disgusted to talk to a revolutionary.

"Good Roger... She was such a nice gal", Jane sighed.

Then something incredulous happened. The old man was pierced by behind. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"Hohohohoo... I don't die that easily!" Aika laughed. She had mad luck that he said out aloud where the sword was hid. Now it was hanging from her hip loosely, as the belt was too big.

"Captain!" The marine soldiers shouted and run towards their beloved captain to help him.

"How can it be... I felt your heart stop beating...!" The captain still managed to ask when Aika pulled her sword out of his flesh. He surely didn't expect this. If he had, Aika would be the one with a sword trough the body.

"That's true... I stopped my own heart from beating and then I restarted it, because I'm a bloodstopper, hohohohoo!" She laughed pleased at the fact she managed to outsmart him. She jumped past the marines running to the captain to help him. The battle was on once again, and she helped the rebels the best she could even if her ribs and shoulder were aching painfully and she was still feeling dizzy about the bloodstopping she had done.

The fight ended with lots of mangled bodies making their way into the ships marines would use to escape the island and report the higher ups about the situation in the Apple Island. The pirates were carrying their treasures with gleaming smiles.

Lagahn, who dared to stand still with such big wounds was talking to the pirate captain.

"Thank you for your help, Trafalgar", he said, smiling kindly at the smirking captain. His hand was still covered in bandages from the time Aika stabbed him. _'His own fault'_, she thought. He had new scratches though and a purple bruise was starting to form on his tanned face.

"This had nothing to do with you", he said, unsure if he liked to be thanked.

"Sure, sure, but I don't care why but you still still worked in our favor so we're thankful", Lagahn told the pirate.

"Whatever", he shrugged and followed after his men who were carrying the pricey stuff towards their ship. He was definitively in a good mood, so he let the thanking thing go, but the fact he didn't get the infamous sword bugged him. He had planned it to be a good replace for his current sword, if it ever got broken. Perhaps he'd get it later.

"Well then, Lagahn! It's time to get you patched up!" Jane ordered the curly haired man to go to Hamnia, who was a skilled medic. It was a time for rest, but just for a while now.

As a guest, she was now free to travel the island anywhere, when Lagahn and the others she had fought with against the marines had to stay on the shore too make sure the marines didn't come back. Magnus had came to the navy fort to check the situation and tell them the news about the capital.

"August gave a good speech for the start and then we let the citizens have their moment of free speech. There were lots of good suggestions for the construction law of the new democratic Apple Island. They seem to have had a thought on these things, no wonder though. After all the unfair things I've heard from this country, I wasn't even surprised from the suicide rates they had on this island..." Magnus paused, thinking of the touching story the man had told them on the Liberty square.

Many had reduced to tears, even Magnus, as a harsh man he was had trouble keeping his eyes from wetting. The man's son and a close friend had made a suicide and then he also lost his old mother, not to mention that his wife got sick after working on the mines. The worst thing was, that he wasn't the only one to go trough such things on this islands. Almost all of them were in a dept for the banks because of the high prices of houses, but after the former Applian government was overthrown and it was replaced with people much more open minded for privatization and market economy, they were forced to pay the bills faster. The interest rates also rose, driving the people into a dept hell. Some weren't even able to feed their kids well... The Apple Island was a sad example of the bankers' authority. If you had money you were powerful, it seemed.

But Magnus was a revolutionary and he felt that it was his responsibility, as a person stronger than most, to oppose the power of the bankers and the World Government combined. It was the reason that made him and his allies to come on this island and make all of this happen.

"So, the ones who obviously had something to do with the former governments overthrown fled and we let them do so. It's better to avoid bloodshed in cases like these, where the masses of people want revenge. It usually just causes chaos and possible death of innocents. We also told them to calm down and that they would not have to worry, since the revolutionary leaders will watch over the islands happenings and we will provide them a safe new start", Magnus informed the group of tired warriors laying on the navy basement's own beach. Led was on patrol in the watch tower, though, but he held their baby den den mushi so he had already received main points of the development.

"Is it true that this is lead by the revolutionary leaders?" Aika asked Magnus, interested greatly.

"It is. They're ready to send someone with admiral level skills to help us, if the marines happen to do make Buster Call on us", Magnus confirmed. Hearing about the rumored Buster Call left the painter shocked.

"Is it true that if the Buster Call is made, they will destroy the whole island?"

"Sure is. I've never seen it myself, but I've heard about it happening from reliable sources", Lagahn spoke up.

"It is said that nothing is left alive on any unfortunate island after the Buster Call... It threatens me what the World Government is willing to do for their justice", he stated bitterly. The venom in his voice, like he was just recalling something very hurtful in his past made everyone unable to comment on the subject.

"Sufu also called me that their job is done, and he's ready to guard the shores for the government dogs, but half of his men are still busy helping the prisoners since they are in a bad shape. They're nursing them in the hospital and some will have to inform the captives' relatives", Magnus continued on the news. The listeners nodded understanding, so Magnus didn't go into the details about the prisoners' condition Sufu had described acutely.

"I've got some news about the north, too. It seems like That Ramentum guy and Nine got their job done well, but few men were lost and Ramentum is asking for someone to escort their coffins to their home islands. Nine is still staying in the Golden Apple, his suspecting that there's still some marines there. He said that they won't be a problem, though", Magnus went trough all the information he's got.

"Oh, and Cesil said that the mining has been stopped for now and all the workers are on their way home. Food help is also delivered for those in need", he remembered suddenly.

The bunch were pleased to hear that things were going fine, but they were hungry and tired. Lagahn who had got some tranquilizers had already fell asleep peacefully. Hamnia wrapped a blanket around him to keep the man warm.

"Lagahn and Nelly need to get to the hospital", Hamnia pulled off the medical gloves.

"Magnus and Aika, would you please accompany them to the Liberty City's hospital and send some reinforcements here, too. Preferably one of those Sufu's free men and some civilians will do just fine, since we're not hurt, we just need to get some rest", Hamnia took the situation under his control now that Jane was searching the fort for food.

"Sure", Magnus agreed. Lagahn looked peaceful so he did not worry for him, but Nelly was seemingly in great pain and the tranquilizers did not work for her, since she was immune to all kinds of drugs, poisons and medicines. The doctors would be having some trouble with her.


End file.
